An example of this is that Allah prohibited khamr, but some people thought that the term applied only to grape juice. Some of them therefore prohibited nothing else, while others also prohibited certain intoxicating drinks made by infusion. This is the position held by some jurists of Kufa. Abū Hanīfa prohibits grape juice that has become strong and frothy; this, in his view, is khamr. He also prohibits cooked grape juice unless two-thirds of it has evaporated; once two-thirds has evaporated, he no longer prohibits it. He prohibits uncooked date infusion, but considers it lawful if it has been cooked even slightly. These three intoxicating drinks are not khamr in his view, although they are forbidden. As for other infused drinks, he prohibits only the amount that causes intoxication. Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, however, agreed with the majority that every intoxicant is forbidden, whether in small or large quantities. The leading scholars among Abū Hanīfa’s followers issued fatwas to this effect, and this was also the position adopted by Abū al-Layth al-Samarqandī.

Some scholars prohibited every intoxicant through analogical reasoning, extending either the term or the ruling. This approach was followed by a group of jurists among the followers of Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Ahmad, who thought that the prohibition of every intoxicant rested solely on analogy concerning either terminology or the ruling.

The correct position, held by the great imams, is that the khamr mentioned in the Quran encompasses every intoxicant. Thus, the prohibition of every intoxicant is established by the scriptural text of general scope