Did the Prophet, May God Bless Him and Grant Him Peace, Drink Alcohol
Did the Messenger of Islam ﷺ Drink Alcohol?
A weak doubt raised by Christians and missionaries in their desperate attempts to undermine our noble Messenger ﷺ.
The Doubt
How can a prophet from God drink alcohol? Did the Messenger of Islam ﷺ drink alcohol?
What Is Nabidh (Wine)?
Anything that is mixed with water, milk, or other things is nabidh (wine).
From Lisan al-Arab (v2.02) by Ibn al-Manzur al-Ifriqi:
Nabth: throwing something from your hand in front of you or behind you.
Nabadha al-shay’ means throwing it away and sending it away.
Nabidh: is well-known — one of the wines. It is what was thrown away from juice and the like.
It is called wine because the one who makes it takes dates or raisins, places them in a vessel or water skin, and leaves them until they boil and become intoxicating.
That which does not intoxicate is permissible; if it intoxicates, it is forbidden.
Nabidh is mentioned repeatedly in hadith — it is what is made from drinks from dates, raisins, honey, wheat, barley, and others.
From the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ (not judged in Ad-Durar As-Sunnah by Al-Albani):
“On the night of the jinn, he said to him: What is in your utensils?! He said: I said: Wine (Nabidh). He said: Good dates and pure water, so he performed ablution with it.”
— Mishkat Al-Masabih, 459
So nabidh, as indicated in the hadith, is water in which a small amount of dates has been placed — making the water taste sweet. It is not what the infidels claim about the Messenger of God ﷺ.
Evidence That Nabidh Before Fermentation Is Permissible
Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (narrated by Abu Dawud, Al-Nasa’i, and Ibn Majah):
“I knew that the Prophet ﷺ was fasting, so I prepared his breaking of the fast with wine (nabidh) that I had made in a gourd, then I brought it to him, and it was boiling (fermenting). He said: ‘Throw this against the wall, for this is the drink of one who does not believe in Allah and the Last Day.’”
Hadith of Ibn ‘Umar (narrated by Ahmad) regarding juice:
“Drink it as long as the devil does not take it.”
It was said: “In how many days does the devil take it?”
He said: “In three days.”
Hadith of Ibn Abbas (narrated by Muslim and others):
“Raisins were soaked for the Prophet ﷺ and he would drink them that day, the next day, and the day after until the evening of the third day, then he would order that it be given to the servant to drink or poured out.”
Note: The meaning of giving the servant to drink is that it will spoil quickly — and the likelihood of that is what exceeds three days. (Abu Dawud)
Hadith of Aisha (narrated by Muslim and others):
“She used to make some water (nabidh) for the Messenger of God ﷺ in the morning. When it was evening and he ate dinner, he would drink with his dinner. If there was anything left, she would pour it out or empty it out, then she would make some water for him at night. When morning came, he would eat lunch and drink with his lunch. She would wash the waterskin in the morning and the evening.”
The Decisive Hadith (Sahih Al-Nasa’i, No. 5223):
“I forbade you from visiting graves, so visit them. I forbade you from eating the meat of sacrificial animals for more than three days, so refrain from eating as much as you wish. I forbade you from drinking wine except in a waterskin, so drink from all waterskins, and do not drink intoxicants.”
Conclusions from the Evidence
- All nabidh is wine, but not all wine is nabidh (intoxicating wine).
- The wine the Messenger ﷺ drank was water in which a little date juice had been soaked — like juice that has not fermented. It is not the common intoxicating wine.
- The hadiths clearly distinguish between intoxicating wine — which the Prophet ﷺ forbade — and nabidh — which is permissible before fermentation.
Types of Wine (Nabidh)
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Al-Naqeer | Made from the hollowed-out base of a palm tree |
| Al-Bit’ | Honey wine |
| Al-Mizr | Barley wine |
The Hadith the Christians Misunderstood
Ruh told us, Hammad told us, on the authority of Hamid, on the authority of Bakr bin Abdullah, that an Arab said to Ibn Abbas: “What is the matter with the family of Muawiyah, that they provide water and honey, and the family of so-and-so provide milk, and you provide wine? Is it because of your stinginess or need?”
Ibn Abbas said: “We are not stingy or needy, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to us, accompanied by Usama bin Zaid, and asked for a drink, so we gave him some of this — meaning the wine of the water-carrying vessel — and he drank from it and said: ‘You did well, so do as you please.’ What is more expensive and high-priced? Water, milk, honey, or dates?”
The explanation: In the Arabian desert, date trees are abundant, while water, milk, and honey are difficult to obtain. The nabidh available — free and cheap — was date wine, similar to what Egyptians make in Ramadan before Iftar. People accused the Abbasids of stinginess for using date nabidh instead of the more expensive alternatives.
If what the Prophet ﷺ drank had been intoxicating wine, the Abbasids would not have been accused of stinginess — because wine is more expensive than water, milk, and honey.
Additional Supporting Hadiths
Hadith No. 4386 (Al-Bukhari):
Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari (رضي الله عنه): The Prophet ﷺ sent him to Yemen and asked about drinks made there. He said: “Bit’ and Mizr.”
Bit’: honey wine. Mizr: barley wine.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Every intoxicant is forbidden.”
Hadith No. 4411 (Al-Bukhari):
“I command you to do four things and forbid you from four things… I forbid you from what is kept in a gourd, a small date-stone, wheat, and tarred dates.”
(Al-Naqeer: the base of the palm tree, hollowed out in the middle, used to make wine.)
Hadith No. 5644 (Al-Bukhari):
Aisha said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was asked about bit’ (honey wine), so he said: “Every drink that intoxicates is forbidden.”
Decisive Hadith No. 3305:
“I have forbidden you from visiting graves, so visit them. I have forbidden you from eating the meat of sacrifices for more than three days, so refrain from eating as much as you wish. I have forbidden you from drinking wine except in a waterskin, so drink from all the waterskins.”
“Do not drink intoxicants.”
Hadiths Specific to Dates:
(5262) “Do not mix fresh dates and unripe dates, and do not mix raisins and dates to make wine.”
(5267) “Whoever among you drinks wine, let him drink it as raisins individually, or as unripe dates individually, or as dates.”
Who Actually Drank Wine — Muhammad ﷺ or Jesus?
The Holy Bible acknowledges that the first miracle of Jesus was performed in favour of wine drinkers:
Gospel of John 2:1–11:
“Now on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee… And when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’… Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the waterpots with water.’ And they filled them to the brim. Then he said to them, ‘Draw out some now, and take it to the master of the feast.’… When the master of the feast had tasted the water that had been made wine… he said: ‘Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine… but you have kept the good wine until now.’”
Gospel of Luke 7:34:
“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’”
And our final prayer is that praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds.