1088 – Waʾil al-Ḥaḍramī reported that Ṭāriq ibn Suwayd — may Allah be pleased with him — asked the Prophet ﷺ about wine, intending to prepare it for medicinal purposes. He replied: “It is no remedy; rather, it is a disease.” Related by Muslim, Abū Dāwūd and others (1).

Glossary
• for medicine: that by which one seeks cure and treatment; plural: adwiya (medicines).
• disease: with an open dāl and a prolonged vowel, meaning illness, whether outward or hidden.

Lessons drawn from the two hadiths
1 – Allah, the Exalted, says: “They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, ‘In them is great sin and (some) benefit for people, but their sin is greater than their benefit.’” (Al-Baqarah 2:219). The legal maxim derived from this noble verse — and from comparable texts of the Qurʾan and Sunnah — is that the Wise Lawgiver forbids only what is entirely harmful or whose harm outweighs its benefit.

2 – The essence of wine is the substance “alcohol” in varying quantities. Trace amounts of this substance already exist in the human body to help digest sugars, and it does have certain therapeutic uses. Those medical benefits are present within the body in sufficient measure. As for the passing exhilaration felt by the drinker, or the monetary gain earned by trading in it — these are the few benefits it contains, while what Allah has made lawful offers far greater and better advantages. Opposed to these minor benefits are harms and corruptions known only to the One who has forbidden it,