—that is, casting them into it, since nabdh means “casting in”—to sweeten the water, especially since much of the water in the Hijaz is salty. This nabīdh is permissible by the consensus of the Muslims because it does not intoxicate, just as grape juice is permissible to drink before it becomes intoxicating.

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had forbidden them to prepare this nabīdh in wooden vessels, earthenware vessels made of clay, gourds, or pitch-coated containers. He instructed them instead to prepare it in containers whose mouths were tied shut with cords. This was because intoxicating strength develops gradually and imperceptibly in nabīdh, so a person might unknowingly drink something that had already acquired an intoxicating, exhilarating potency. If a waterskin was tied shut, it would split when the nabīdh fermented inside it, thus preventing a person from falling into what was forbidden. Those other vessels, however, would not split.

It is reported that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, subsequently permitted preparing nabīdh in those vessels, saying:

“I had forbidden you to prepare nabīdh in those vessels. Now prepare it, but do not drink anything intoxicating.”

The Companions and the scholars who came after them differed. Some had not learned of the abrogation or did not consider it established, and therefore prohibited preparing nabīdh in those vessels. Others accepted the later report as authentic and as abrogating the earlier prohibition, and therefore permitted preparing nabīdh in them.

Some jurists heard that certain Companions used to drink nabīdh and assumed that it was intoxicating. They consequently considered it permissible to drink certain kinds of beverages not made from grapes or dates. They also permitted boiled nabīdh made from dates and raisins, provided it did not intoxicate the drinker.