by someone who has prepared some of it that it intoxicates. Today it is openly available in Alexandria and Egypt. We tell them, “It is forbidden,” but they reply, “It existed in the time of ʿUmar; had it been forbidden, would he not have prohibited it?”

He replied:

Praise be to Allah. Numerous reports from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the authentic hadith collections, the Sunan collections, and the Musnad collections establish that he prohibited every intoxicant and classified it as khamr. Thus, in Sahīh Muslim, Ibn ʿUmar reports that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Every intoxicant is khamr, and all khamr is forbidden.”

Another wording states:

“Every intoxicant is forbidden.”

In the two Sahīh collections, ʿĀʾishah reports that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Every drink that intoxicates is forbidden.”

In the two Sahīh collections, Abū Mūsā reports:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was asked about a drink made from honey called bitʿ. He had been endowed with concise, comprehensive speech, and he replied: ‘Every intoxicant is forbidden.’”

In the two Sahīh collections, ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb is reported to have said from the pulpit—the pulpit of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Allah has forbidden khamr, which is made from five things: wheat, barley, grapes, dates, and raisins. Khamr is whatever clouds the mind.”

This is also related in the Sunan collections with a chain of transmission through Ibn ʿUmar from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

It has also been reported from him through several chains that he said:

“Whatever intoxicates in large amounts is forbidden even in small amounts.”

A number of hadith masters have graded this report authentic. The hadiths on this subject are numerous. Thus, the position of the scholars of the Hijaz, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, and Basra, and of the hadith jurists, such as Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and others, is that anything which causes intoxication