Fatwa: 15

Category: medical fatwas

The medicine that is prepared with alcohol

The question:

For preparing a medicine, we use 3 liters of olive oil and add spirit vinegar and if we do not find (spirit vinegar), we add a bottleful of wine.

Is it permissible to receive a medical treatment from this preparation whether by drinking it or by putting it on the wound.

May Allah bless you, make us benefit from your knowledge on a long term, and peace and blessings of Allah be upon you.

The answer:

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessing be upon whom Allah sent as a mercy to the Worlds, upon his Family, his Companions and his Brothers till the Day of Resurrection.

Know –May Allah protect you- that olive oil is from a blessed tree, as Allah عزَّ وجلَّ said in the Sura An-Nûr (The Light):

﴿يُوقَدُ مِنْ شَجَرَةٍ مُبَارَكَةٍ زَيْتُونَةٍ لاَ شَرْقِيَّةٍ وَلاَ غَرْبِيَّةٍ يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِيءُ وَلَوْ لَمْ تَمْسَسْهُ نَارٌ﴾ [النور: 35].

The meaning of the verse:

﴾…lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east (i.e. neither it gets sun-rays only in the morning) nor of the west (i.e. nor it gets sun-rays only in the afternoon, but it is exposed to the sun all day long), whose oil would almost glow forth (of itself), though no fire touched it.﴿ [An-Nûr (The Light): 35].

And the Prophet صلَّى اللهُ عليه وسلَّم saying: “Eat olive oil and anoint yourselves with it, for it comes from a blessed tree”⁽¹⁾. Moreover, something described as being blessed in Allah’s Revelation cannot be but useful. As for vinegar, it is praised by the Prophet صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم by saying: “What a good condiment is vinegar!”⁽²⁾. If the first (i.e. olive oil) is mixed with the second (i.e. vinegar) which means mixing a permissible matter with another matter which is also permissible, in a manner that specialists of medicine accept, on the basis of rational reasons related to worldly matters, and that this mixture is a success, that is to say, it has positive results which consist of removing the harm and pain; in this case, it will be permissible to use it for treatment as well as the majority of nutriments which are designed for medication, whether by consuming it or anointing the body with it.

Moreover, it is not permissible to add, for treatment, wine which is forbidden by the Sharia, to olive oil, as it is not permissible, also, to take it or add it to other substances in accordance with the Prophet’s صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم saying: “Allah has sent down the disease and the cure, and has made for every disease the cure. So treat sickness, but do not use anything illicit”⁽³⁾. In another narration: “Allah does not make your healing in that which He has forbidden to you”⁽⁴⁾, and when the Prophet صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم was asked about using wine for preparing vinegar he said: “No”⁽⁵⁾

The perfect knowledge belongs to Allah. Our last prayer is all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessing be upon our Prophet صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم, his Family, his Companions and Brothers till the Day of Resurrection.

Algiers,15 Dhu Al-Qa`da 1416H.