Khamr (Arabic:خمر) is an Arabic word for wine or intoxicant.[a] InIslamic context, is variously defined asalcoholic beverages,wine orliquor.[1] The "dominant belief" among Muslims is that consumption ofalcohol in any form isforbidden, and in addition selling, transporting, serving, etc. alcohol is also a sin.[2] However, according to Murtaza Haider ofDawn, "A consensus (ijma) on how to deal with alcohol has eluded Muslim jurists for more than a millennium".[3]
How Khamr in Islam is defined varies by the school of jurisprudence (madhhab). MostIslamic jurists have traditionally viewed it as general term for any fermented intoxicating beverage,[4] though one school (Hanafi) has limited it to alcohol derived from dates and grapes (consumption of which they also forbid). Over time, other intoxicants, such asopium andkhat, have been classed by jurists as khamr.[4][5] The punishment for consumption of alcohol is disagreed upon; some believe that any punishment for consuming alcohol is un-Islamic, while others believe it is flogging, though legal scholars disagree over whether the number of lashes should be 40 or 80.[3][6]
Historically, many Muslim elites consumed alcohol, encompassing the reign of theUmayyads, theAbbasids, Islamic Spain (al-Andalus), and dynasties that ruled Egypt and the eastern, Persianate half of the Muslim world.[7] Modern Islamic countries have low rates of alcohol consumption, and it is completely banned in several of themwhile strictly controlled in others (such as consumption being allowed only in private places or by non-Muslims). A minority of Muslims do drink and believe consuming alcohol is notQur'anically forbidden.[8][9] Muslim-majority countries produce a variety of regional distilled beverages such asarak (drink) andrakı. There is a long tradition ofviniculture in the Middle East, particularlyin Egypt (where it is legal) andin Iran (where it is banned).
Infiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), it refers to certain forbidden substances, and its technical definition depends on themadhhab (school of jurisprudence). Most jurists, including those from theMaliki,Shafiʽi,Hanbali andAhl-i Hadith legal schools, have traditionally viewed it as general term for any intoxicating beverage made from grapes, dates, and similar substances.[4]Hanafi jurists restricted the term to a narrower range of beverages.[4] Over time, some jurists classified other intoxicants, such asopium andkhat, askhamr, based on ahadith attributed toMuhammad stating,
Other traditions state: (Narrated Abu Kathir As-Suhaimi that he heard Abu Hurairah saying that Muhammad the Messenger of Allah said)
A minority offaqīh (experts in Islamic jurisprudence), particularly of the Hanafi school, take the concept of khamr literally and forbid only grape-based (or date-based) alcoholic beverages, allowing those made with other fruits, grains, or honey.[12][13] Other sources (Shaykh Nabil Khan) speaking for the Hanafi Madhhab, state that while not all alcohol is khamr (alcohol not derived from dates and grapes is ‘non-khamr’), all alcohol consumption is forbidden if consumed 1) in sufficient quantity to intoxicate or if 2) consumed for recreational purposes,[14] (i.e. medicinal use may be permitted).[15]
Quranic verses that at least discourage alcohol include:
They ask you about wine (khamr) and gambling. Say, "In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit."
"O you who acknowledge, Do not go near prayer, (Salat) while you are stupified (under influence), until you know what you are saying"
O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants (khamr), gambling, [sacrificing on] stone altars [to other than God], anddivining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.
Various sahih version of the hadith below are found in Abu Dawood (3674), Ibn Maajah (3380), Al-Tirmidhi (1295) and other collections:[21][2] The Prophet Muhammad said:
Allah has cursed wine, its drinker, its server, its seller, its buyer, its presser, the one for whom it is pressed, the one who conveys it, and the one to whom it is conveyed.[22][21]
According to a hadith where Imam Ahmad recorded what Abu Maysarah said, the verses came after requests byUmar to Allah, to "Give us a clear ruling regarding Al-Khamr!"[23] Many Muslims believe the verses were revealed over time in this order to gradually nudge Muslim converts away from drunkenness and towards total sobriety, as to ban alcohol abruptly would have been too harsh and impractical,[24] since Islam brought "a society steeped in immorality" to one observing "the highest standards of morality",[25]
Early caliphs distributed cooked wine (tilā’) to Muslim troops, as the cooking process caused the wine to be nonalcoholic. However, fermentation could resume in the amphorae, and Caliph ‘Umar II had to prohibit drinking this beverage.[26]
Like therationalistschool of Islamic theology, theMuʿtazila,[27] early Hanafi scholars upheld the unlawfulness of intoxication, but restricted its definition to fermented juice of grapes[28] or grapes and dates.[29] As a result, alcohol derived by means of honey, barley, wheat and millet such as beer, whisky or vodka was permitted according to some minor faction of followers ofAbu Hanifa andAbu Yusuf, although all forms of grape alcohol were banned absolutely.[30] (Hanafis traced their view on intoxicants back toUmar (d.644) andAbdullah ibn Masud (c.653).)[31][need quotation to verify]This was in stark contrast to other schools of fiqh, which prohibit consumption of alcohol in all its forms.
Averroes, the MuslimAndalusi[32]polymath andjurist, explained in his encyclopedia of comparative Islamic jurisprudence the idea of alcohol derived from honey, wheat, barley or corn beingharam when used as an intoxicant, in an amount that intoxicates, but permissible if used in a manner intended for medical purpose, hygiene, perfume, etc.:
In their argument by way of reasoning they said that the Koran has explicitly laid down that theIlla (underlying cause) of prohibition of khamr is that it prevents the remembrance of God and breeds enmity and hatred…[this is] found only in a certain quantity of the intoxicating liquor not in what is less than that; it follows therefore that only this quantity be prohibited.[33]
The distinction between the legal status of wine and non-grape alcoholic beverages was reflected in early Hanafi jurists delineated drinking-related offences into two categories:
Since the second category of punishment was specific to the Hanafis (other schools punish drinking regardless of intoxication), they had to come with a legal definition of drunkenness. These definitions ranged fromIbn Qutaybah's, "[a drunk is he] whose intellect has left him so he does not understand a little or much (anything at all)" to Ibn Nujaym’s, "[a drunk is he who] does not know (the difference) between a man and a woman or the earth from the sky". Hanafi understanding of Shariah not only permitted adherents to indulge in alcoholic beverages but they could do so up to a near point of total "annihilation".[36]
However, from the 12th century, the Hanafi school embraced the general prohibition of all alcoholic beverages, in line with the other schools.[37]
Contemporary Islamic scholarShahab Ahmed (1966-2015) argued that fiqh prohibition and punishment of consumption of alcoholic beverages notwithstanding,
an equally distinctive mark of the history of Muslims has been a widely held and constantly reiterated alternative evaluation of wine in non-legal discourses where wine and the consumption thereof are invested with a positive meaning expressive of higher, indeed rarified value – and this positive meaning has been enacted in society both in literary reiteration and in the physical consumption of wine in social settings.[38]
Rudi Matthee also writes that many Muslim elites during the reign of theUmayyads, theAbbasids, Islamic Spain (al-Andalus), and dynasties that ruled Egypt and the eastern, Persianate half of the Muslim world consumed alcohol.[7]
Rather than being relegated to "‘bad’ or ‘non-observant’ Muslims, or talked about only as a metaphor for the mystic’s ‘spiritual intoxication’ in the midst of the divine, wine consumption in theIslamic Golden Age was a mainstream literal practice, sometimes even intertwined with religious rituals.[38] "TheOttoman travellerEvliya Çelebi, for example, describes a party at a palace of Sultan Murad IV where wine was consumed, followed by mid-afternoon prayer and Quranic recitation."[38] 10th century polymathAbu Zayd al-Balkhi, in a "foundational work" of medicine,The Welfare of Bodies and Souls, waxed rhapsodic on the virtues of wine, "unique among all foods and drinks, for none of these have in them anything of which the pleasure is transported from the body to the soul, producing therein".[38] Physician and philosopherIbn Sina (c.980-1037), (aka Avicenna), 'routinely drank wine in good company’ when ‘not engaged in the problem of defining God'.[38] According to Gina Hames some scholars argue that the Quran only prohibited wine drinking when used in pagan rituals or when misused to create social divisions or further Godlessness.[39]
The Quran does not prescribe a penalty for consuming alcohol.Amonghadith, the only reference for punishment comes from one byAnas ibn Malik (according to Murtaza Haider of the newspaper/websiteDawn in Pakistan), who is reported to have stated that Muhammad prescribed 40 lashes "administered with two palm branches ... for someone accused of consuming alcohol".[3] Saudi Arabian scholarMuhammad Al-Munajjid also states that a hadith report narrated bySahih Muslim (3281) from Anas reports that Muhammad flogged someone who had drunk wine with palm branches stripped of their leaves and with shoes.[40]
According to Muhammad Al-Munajjid, the consensus of classicalfuqaha’ for the punishment for consumption of alcohol is flogging, but scholars do not agree on the number of lashes to be administered; "the majority of scholars are of the view that it is eighty lashes for a free man" and forty for slaves and women.[6] Similarly Murtaza Haider writes, "a consensus (ijmāʿ) on how to deal with alcohol has eluded Muslim jurists for more than a millennium". The "Maliki, Hanbali, and Hanafi schools" of Islamic jurisprudence consider 80 lashes to be lawful punishment, the Shafi’i school calls for 40 lashes. "The Hadith does not cover the matter in sufficient detail. ... Is it 40 or 80 lashes? Can one substitute palm branches with a cane or leather whips? What constitutes as proof for consumption?"[3]
Laws on alcohol consumption as of 2025 in some Muslim majority countries include:
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)The following is part of a discussion on prohibited liquors from the Hidayah of Burhanuddin al-Marghinani (d. 1197), a Hanafi faqih of Farghana in Central Asia (modern Uzbekistan). Beer, Whisky, and Vodka, according to this liberal Hanafi view, were permitted, although all forms of grape alcohol were banned absolutely: "..Liquor produced by means of honey, wheat, barley or millet is lawful, according to Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf (his most distinguished disciple)..
Averroism is a philosophical movement named after the sixth/twelfth-century Andalusian philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes, d. 595/1198), which began in the thirteenth century among masters of arts at the University of Paris and continued through the seventeenth century.
Some scholars have argued that the prohibition of wine in the Quran was ambiguous, and that it was not the use of wine, per se, but the use of wine in pagan rituals that was outlawed. Other scholars have argued that rather than being explicitly forbidden like blood or pork or carrion, the Quran maintained that it was the misuse of alcohol that caused severe social problems. It could create divisions among men, and could separate them from God.
