MEDICINES WHICH HAVE ALCOHOL CONTENT.

[hanish]

As alcohol is haraam in Islam. What about medcines which have a slight alcohol content in it... Can it be taken by muslims?

[like_minded]

As long as you don't take an overdose and fall in a gutter, Its okay mate!

[jawanmardan]

Islam does not single out alcohol, but recreational use of all intoxicants which remove our ability to make sound mental judgements, and retain control over our bodies. Personally I don't quite understand why some Muslims see fragrances which use alcohol as forbidden, let alone medications. Plenty of pain killers and other legal drugs can cause an even more severe impairment of judgment than the alcohol you would find in a few spoons of cough mixture; yet are considered halal.

We need to understand the principles behind the law, and not just focus on the law for it's own sake; Today many Afghans, and Iranians are hooked on opium, they even cultivate it, yet avoid alcohol because the latter they perceive as less evil than the former. When in fact they both fall under the same legal principle.

I'm with like_minded on this one, it's fine for medical use (or smelling better), but not for intoxication; some common sense is in order.

[Al Zulfiqar]

in the arab gulf countries, medicines and foods with alcohol are banned, no matter what the %. all cough syrups, sedative syrups, muscle relaxant syrups etc which previously contained alcohol were re-introduced in the 80's without alcohol and work perfectly fine. it is a mistaken notion that alcohol is absolutely neccessary for the efficacy of certain medicines.

cakes, steak marinades, pre-cooked meals and so on which contain alcohol are also banned in the gulf.

in fact, many western companies have been caught deliberately and secretly adding banned ingredients to foods supplied to the muslim countries, just so that they get vicious pleasure in violating muslim sensibilities.

the quran is very clear on intoxicants. it says without any ambiguity: what can cause intoxication in one measure, can and will cause intoxication even in a fraction of its measure, and is thus haraam in all cases.

there is no loophole here or justification for using even the minutest qtys. if its haraam as 1 gm, then its haraam even in .01 mg.

[anajmi]

I am with jawanmardan in this case. The quran is clear about the use of alcohol even in small quantities but that simply counters recent research which claims that alcohol in limited quantities is good for the heart.

[syed]

@anajmi
before the modern research quraan itself told that there are some benefits also and some harms also, but harms are more then the benefits.

also what do you mean by "small quantities" ? for a heavy drinker 10 ML maybe a small qty, for someone who doesn't drink it could be a large qty,

i don't agree with you, there are no ambiguities with matter of qty, Alcohol is prohibited, regardless of quantity.

however the rule "necessity permits the prohibited" still applies here, if in life threatening condition a doctor decides that the treatment has to be done with something
that contains alcohol and that is the only available way, then use of alcohol will also be permissible.


WBR
Syed

[syed]

‘They ask you (Muhammad) about wine and gambling, say, in them is a great sin and some benefit, but the sin is greater than their benefit.’ (Baqarah 219).

just to point the exact reference, so the benefit has already been told, before modern science verified it (not found it).

WBR
Syed

[jawanmardan]

To extend the discussion; what about the use of Ethanol as an environmentally safer form of renewable energy; or it's use in colognes/deodorants as a form of preservative?

[Al Zulfiqar]

jawanmardan,

ethyl alcohol (not ethanol) is used as a carrier and diffusing agent for perfumes. it acts as the solvent within which the essential oils of concentrated perfume extracts are dissolved. many orthodox muslims believe that spraying such perfumes on one's self can lead to intoxication due to the dispersal of the alcohol droplets in the air and thus being inhaled. also there are isolated cases of addicts drinking colognes as a substitute for liquor.

the raging issue of plant based ethanol derivatives being used as an admixture with fossil fuels to power cars etc., if viewed from an islamic angle, is instantly non-islamic and unjust to humanity and the environment. for billions in humanity to suffer shortages and pay higher prices for wheat, rice, corn, edible oils and other basic essentials is a crime and a conspiracy by the petroleum companies and govts in the west, esp. the US, against the poor and deprived and even more so against the poorer asian and african countries where these foods are staples of daily diet

[jawanmardan]

jawanmardan,

ethyl alcohol (not ethanol) is used as a carrier and diffusing agent for perfumes. it acts as the solvent within which the essential oils of concentrated perfume extracts are dissolved. many orthodox muslims believe that spraying such perfumes on one's self can lead to intoxication due to the dispersal of the alcohol droplets in the air and thus being inhaled. also there are isolated cases of addicts drinking colognes as a substitute for liquor.

I'll differ to you on the chemistry involved. Personally I think you would have to be bonkers and considerably wealthy to consider drinking cologne. And getting drunk on inhalation, seems far fetched.

the raging issue of plant based ethanol derivatives being used as an admixture with fossil fuels to power cars etc., if viewed from an islamic angle, is instantly non-islamic and unjust to humanity and the environment. for billions in humanity to suffer shortages and pay higher prices for wheat, rice, corn, edible oils and other basic essentials is a crime and a conspiracy by the petroleum companies and govts in the west, esp. the US, against the poor and deprived and even more so against the poorer asian and african countries where these foods are staples of daily diet

I'll have to take issue with you on this one, we hear a lot about Ethanol in the west, but in reality because of the climate, and soil conditions, the west is not best placed to produce ethanol, the world leader is Brazil, I've visited Brazil and I can tell you they are far more advanced in this area than the west. Ethanol is a far better alternative to oil, the one environmental problem and I addmit it's a Big one, is deforestation.

The problem with food production lies in the EU and US handing out huge subsidies to their farmers, and then dumping excess production on the developing world. Having the developing world produce ethanol would give them access to western markets, and aid in development. Despite the Billions of dollars, Americas Ethanol program has been a failure, and is a waste of tax dollars, which could be better spent elsewhere; not least health care.

[Al Zulfiqar]

jwm,

u seem to have considered only the prices of expensive branded perfume sprays. what i am mainly referring to are the colognes which come in sizes of upto 2 ltr bottles and are used as a body splash, which people drink as a substitute for alcohol where it is severely restricted by law. this is widely prevalent in saudi arabia. by the way, the opinions i expressed about alcohol based spray perfumes being haraam, are not my own but as believed by some of the orthodox. i am not saying it is right or wrong, in fact i cudnt care less.

as for plant based ethanol being environment friendly or not, what u have not considered is its impact on world prices due the diversion of crops and resources towards its production, without any regard to the needs of the poor. did u know that in the last 1 year, prices of most varieties of rice, wheat, flour, edible oils etc have kept rising and have increased by almost 40-50 all over the world %? thus the prices of bread, bakery products and all foods which use the above has had to be increased? in some countries like pakistan there is a severe shortage of flour and oil while prices have skyrocketed and riots could take place there any day? big rice producing countries like india, vietnam, indonesia etc have placed severe restrictions on their exports in order to safeguard their population, the common man all over the world is fed up with all this. restt prices all over the world have been affected and who suffers? the people who are at the bottom rung of the ladder.