the Hijāzīs with respect to the prohibition of all kinds of nabīdh.

As for the Kūfans, they support their school by appealing to the outward sense of the Almighty’s words,

“And from the fruits of the date-palm and the grape-vine you obtain therefrom an intoxicant and a wholesome provision” (Q. 16:67),

as well as to reports they have transmitted on the subject and to analogical reasoning based on the underlying meaning.

Regarding the verse, they argue: “Sakar means ‘that which intoxicates.’ Had it been intrinsically unlawful, Allah would not have called it ‘wholesome provision.’”

Of the reports on which they rely, the most famous in their circles is the ḥadīth of Abū ʿAwn al-Thaqafī, from ʿAbdullāh ibn Shaddād, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—who said:

“Wine is forbidden to you in and of itself, and intoxication from anything else is forbidden.”

They maintain that this wording is an explicit text admitting no interpretation, whereas the scholars of the Ḥijāz weaken it because one of its transmitters rendered the wording, “and whatever intoxicates from other sources.”

Among their evidences as well is the report of Sharīk from Simāk ibn Ḥarb on his chain from Abū Burdah ibn Niyār, who said that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—declared:

“I had forbidden you to drink from certain vessels; now drink from whatever you wish, but do not become intoxicated.”

Al-Ṭaḥāwī recorded this ḥadīth.

They also narrate from Ibn Masʿūd that he said, “I witnessed the prohibition of nabīdh just as you did; then I witnessed its permissibility. I remembered, whereas you forgot.”

Likewise they report from Abū Mūsā who said:

“The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—sent me and Muʿādh to Yemen. We said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, in that land there are two drinks made from wheat and barley: one is called mizr and the other biṭʿ. What should we drink?’ He—upon him be blessings and peace—replied, ‘Drink, but do not become intoxicated.’”

Al-Ṭaḥāwī also recorded this, together with other reports they cite in this chapter.

In terms of rational argument, they say: “The Qur’an expressly states that the cause of prohibition in wine is that it distracts from the remembrance of Allah and engenders enmity and hatred, as the Exalted says:

‘Satan only desires to sow enmity and hatred among you through wine and gambling and to turn you away from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer’ (Q. 5:91).

This cause is found only in the amount that intoxicates, not in anything less. Therefore the intoxicating amount alone is forbidden, apart from the consensus that both small and large quantities of wine are prohibited.”

They add, “This category of analogy is effectively attached to the textual evidence itself; it is the type of qiyās for which the Law explicitly points out the operative cause.”