Unfamiliar Terms in the Hadith:

Al-ḥir: the vulva; what is meant is fornication.

Al-maʿāzif: the plural of miʿzafa, meaning musical instruments, as stated in al-Fatḥ.

Al-ʿalam: a lofty mountain.

“They are brought back to them”: the subject has been omitted; it is the shepherd, as indicated by the context, since grazing livestock must have someone to guard it.

“With grazing livestock”: these are the animals taken out to pasture in the morning and brought back in the evening to their place of shelter.

“Someone comes to them with a need”: this is explained in al-Ismāʿīlī’s narration in his Mustakhraj of the Ṣaḥīḥ: “A person seeking something comes to them.”

“Allah destroys them during the night”: that is, He destroys them at night.

“And He casts the mountain upon them”: that is, He causes it to fall upon them.

Jurisprudential Lessons from the Hadiths:

The preceding hadiths yield important lessons, some of which we shall mention:

First: the prohibition of khamr (intoxicants). This is a matter on which the Muslims unanimously agree, praise be to Allah. However, a group among them—including some authorities whose opinions were followed—restricted the prohibition to what was made specifically from grape juice. As for other intoxicating beverages, such as sukar, a date infusion that ferments without being boiled; jiʿa, barley beer; and sakarkah, the Ethiopian wine made from sorghum, they considered all of these lawful, except for the quantity that intoxicates. As for a small amount, they considered it lawful. This is unlike grape wine, of which a small amount is as prohibited as a large amount.

This distinction, despite contradicting the unequivocal texts prohibiting every intoxicant, such as ʿUmar’s statement