22 – Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about wine that is to be made into vinegar. He said, ‘No.’” Recorded by Muslim and al-Tirmidhī, who graded it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.⦗1⦘

Vocabulary of the ḥadīth
• khamr: any drink that intoxicates, whether produced from grape juice or something else. It is called khamr because it khamara (covers) the intellect. The word is feminine in Arabic but may be treated as masculine; its plural is khumur.
• khal: vinegar; pronounced with an open khāʾ and a doubled lām. It is what has soured from grape juice or the like; its plural is khulūl.
• lā: a particle of negation. One of its uses is as a reply that negates what would otherwise be affirmed by “yes”; in that case the clause that follows is often omitted. That is the usage found here.

Points derived from the ḥadīth

1. Wine is prohibited; therefore, treating it in order to make it return to vinegar is not permissible, even by transferring it from shade to sunlight or the reverse. This understanding comes from the phrase “be made into vinegar.” According to the Shāfiʿī school, however, the stronger view is that it becomes pure through such transfer, as stated by al-Nawawī in his commentary on Muslim (13/152).
2. If wine is deliberately converted into vinegar, it does not become lawful; its prohibition remains. Supporting this is the report found in Abū Dāwūd (3675) and al-Tirmidhī (1294): “When wine was forbidden, Abū Ṭalḥa asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about wine he kept for some orphans—could he turn it into vinegar? He ordered him to pour it away.”
3. However, if it turns into vinegar on its own, without any intentional processing—changing from being wine to