Zakir Naik – Is it Permitted to Drink Non Alcoholic Beer?
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The first question is
a salam o Alaikum. I am Ali from Sri Lanka. I'm a civil engineer currently in Qatar. Can we drink non alcoholic beer? But the earlier of the question that can we drink non alcoholic beer.
As far as drinking intoxicants are concerned, it is clearly mentioned the goddess Quran in surah majda chapter number five was number 19. Allah says, Yeah, are you a lesbian amanu or you believe in the Malcolm rule, my rule, most certainly intoxicants and gambling, while unsavoury some dedication of stones, definition of arrows, rich some Remley shaytan these are thickens handiwork first and you will welcome to floon abstain from this handle that may prosper. So, this was the Quran. So, the mother chapter five was very clear cut that ending toxicants whether it be beer, whether it be alcohol, whether it be wine, any intoxicants, drugs, etc, it is prohibited. Now the question posed
is that is non alcoholic beer allowed in Islam?
Firstly, understand what is a non alcoholic beer in non alcoholic beer
when you read on the can, it does not show any content of alcohol. But how is it made? We have come to know that the non alcoholic beer It is made the same way as a normal vs made which contains alcohol with malt with barley and the cricket. But in a non alcoholic beer what they do they extract the alcohol
by very different methodologies. For example, the boiling point of normal water is 100 degrees centigrade, but the boiling point of ethanol ethanol epi Latika hall or drinking alcohol also known as spirit also known as alcohol, it is at a lower degree it is at 70 degrees centigrade. So, when you boil below 100 above 70 degrees up to 80 degrees, this ethanol is extracted it evaporates.
The other method of removing is by the osmosis method, but all these methods that are used by the companies, which make the non alcoholic beer, it does not remove 100% of that call, they remove 95% of that call, yet 5% remains in that drink.
Because to remove 100% of that call is very expensive and these companies cannot afford and according to the rules and regulations of the Food and Drug Association in USA, if the content is point 5% and below, it may not be mentioned in the ingredients list on the can.
So because the alcohol content in non alcoholic beer is point 5% or a little bit low, maybe point four nine and a 14%. They do not write in the can but it does contain alcohol. Normally it contains point 5% alcohol or point four 9% alcohol because it contains 2.5% or less by law it need not be mentioned on the can but it does contain alcohol.
How did this come? This initially was first introduced in the early part of the 1900s. early part of the 20th century, when I have to haul was banned in USA. So to circumvent
avoid the law. What these to do is to make the beer and extract the alcohol out the content was point 5%. So legally allowed. That's how it started initially. And but natural later on when our call was formatted in USA, they have gone back to drinking normal wine, whiskey, alcohol, but yet there are some people who yet have this non alcoholic beer or alcohol free beer. But let me tell you that this non alcoholic beer or alcohol free beer does contain alcohol. It contains point 5% or point four 9% the normal beer it contains approximately 5% of alcohol it is less than the other drink like whiskey, wine etc. So if we analyze non alcoholic beer does contain a small percentage of
alcohol, the taste is same as beer. The effect in terms of fizziness etc the same, the feeling in the mouth is the same. So those who drink normal beer feel non alcoholic beer somewhat similar. And unfortunately, there are some Muslims who think that this non alcoholic beer is permitted and there are fatwa by some scholars who have said is permitted which is totally wrong because they may fail to
Understand in which type was this non alcoholic beer made. And just because it does not mention on the can that alcohol is present, they think, if no alcohol that means is permitted, but we have to realize that originally alcohol was there, and our call was expected, and our call is yet there.
Now when we come to know from the deeds of our beloved portion of Sal Salaam, that once when a Sahaba, he asked the Prophet that along with the orphans, we have inherited alcohol. So instead of throwing it away, can I convert it into vinegar, and the Prophet said, No, you throw it away. Now if it was permitted, surely the popular said that my wasted convert into winning and have it and especially if it's the property of the orphans, all the more reason the Prophet I've been careful, but because he said throw it away. That mean once it contains valid call, you cannot extract it and use it. So based on this Hadith, it is very clear cut that once the drink contains alcohol, even if
you extract the alcohol completely, you cannot have it. In this case, it is not extracted completely. So in the first case, also it's Haram, if it was extracted completely. In the second case, even though you extracted yet it contains point 5% alcohol. Now if you compare to the effect of a normal beer, if you have one can have normal beer, it contained 5% alcohol.
So if you have 10 times of non alcoholic beer, or alcohol free beer, it will have the same effect as one can have normal beer. Or if you have half a can of normal beer, and the five cans of non alcoholic beer, it will have the same effect. And a prophet peace be upon him is very clear. It's mentioned in the hadith of Nehemiah, we're in more 400 number 389. To that our beloved Prophet was Allah Psalm said that anything which intoxicates in a large quantity, it is also prohibited in a small quantity. So based on this Hadith,
it is very clear cut that for a Muslim having non alcoholic beer is also prohibited. Number one original alcohol it is extracted number two, the complete alcohol is not extracted. So based on both of these evidences, it is very clear that a Muslim should not have non alcoholic beer. Though the alcohol content is not mentioned on the can idiot does contain alcohol, which if you have a large quantity, the non alcoholic beer, it will have an intoxicating effect based on this. It is prohibited. Unfortunately, there are many Muslim countries, including many Gulf countries where this freely available, and many Muslims think that it is permitted to have non alcoholic beer. And once
when of traveling the plane coming back from Saudi Arabia. After doing mumbra there was a Muslim sitting next to me. And
he was having beer. At the first instant. I thought you are not a Muslim. Maybe the non Muslim having beer. But later on he asked me to fill in immigration form. So when I read the immigration from the name was Muhammad. So I asked him you're a Muslim? He said yes. Then how can we having beer? He said I had the same beer. He called it beat even in Saudi Arabia. So there's no audio so it's allowed for that person being a labor class. He thinks that the beer you're having non alcoholic in Saudi Arabia is allowed. So here it is the same, the taste is same. And he had it, it is ignorance. So I would say that non alcoholic beer is haram and I would dearly recommend that
those which are Muslim majority countries, where the Haram products are not allowed. We should see to it that even this non alcoholic beer is prohibited in these countries because it is not permitted for a Muslim to have non alcoholic beer or alcohol free beer because it does contain alcohol and a large quantity it will intoxicate you hope that answers the question