drink, and what should I avoid?’ He said: ‘What are they?’ I said: ‘Al-bita‘ and al-mizr.’ He said: ‘What are al-bita‘ and al-mizr?’ He said: ‘Al-bita‘ is a fermented honey drink, while al-mizr is a fermented corn drink.’ The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then said: …” Thus he mentioned it.

Ahmad does not include the words: “For I have forbidden …” I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Abu Burdah ibn Abi Musa also corroborated it from his father with similar wording. Muslim (6/99–100), al-Nasa’i, and Ahmad (4/407, 410, 415–416, and 417) transmitted it. There is also a corroborating report for its first half in a hadith of Buraydah, attributed to the Prophet. Muslim (6/98) and Abu Dawud (2/132) transmitted it. The second half was also transmitted in hadiths from Buraydah, ‘A’ishah, and Ibn ‘Umar.

2425 — “Do not drink from gourd vessels, pitch-coated vessels, or hollowed wooden vessels; rather, prepare fermented drinks in waterskins.” They said: “O Messenger of Allah, what if it becomes strong in the waterskins?” He said: “Pour water over it.” They said: “O Messenger of Allah …” So on the third or fourth occasion, he said to them: “Pour it out.” Then he said: “Allah has forbidden me—or, he said, has forbidden—wine, gambling, and the drum. Every intoxicant is forbidden.”

Abu Dawud—whose wording is given here—(2/131) and Ahmad (1/274) transmitted it through Abu Ahmad: Sufyan narrated to us from ‘Ali ibn Badhimah, who said: Qays ibn Hubayr al-Nahshali narrated to me from Ibn ‘Abbas that the delegation of ‘Abd al-Qays said: “O Messenger of Allah, from what should we drink?” He then mentioned it. Sufyan said: “I asked ‘Ali ibn Badhimah about the drum, and he said: ‘It is the tambourine.’”