Question 578: Salaam, I would like to ask regarding the alcohol contain in vanilla essence or medicine. I read once that the pharmacy alcohol is Pak. So it is safe to use vanilla essence or medicine with pharmaceutical alcohol, right? Please confirm. Jazakallah khair
Answer 578: A similar question has sent to the office of grand jurists and the answers that have been received are as follows:
Ayatollah Khamenei:
Generally speaking, the alcohol which is not determined whether or not it is originally intoxicating or not, is ritually clean and is treated as such. There is no problem in using the liquids which contain alcohol and if one doubts whether the alcohol is intoxicating or not, it is treated as clean. So, if the alcohol is not intoxicating and it is not in a liquid form either, it is halal.[1]
Ayatollah Sistani:
All kinds of alcohol whether derived from wood or other sources are pure (tãhir). Therefore, the food in whose preparation alcohol was used is tãhir except for when it causes drunkenness, in which case, the ruling which will apply to it would be different; it would be haram to use it. God knows best.
Considering that vanilla extract contains 35% alcohol, it is not permissible to use its extract![2] But, if the alcohol used in it is so minute that it dissolves in it, there would be no problem to use it.[3]
Q: Alcohol is used in the production of many drugs and medications: Is it permissible to take them? Are they considered pure (tãhir)?
A: They are pure; and since the alcohol used in them is so minute that it dissolves in them, it is therefore permissible to take them also.[4]
Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi:
Considering the high quantity of alcohol in it, it is necessary to avoid it.
Alcohols are divided into two groups: Alcohol that is produced through chemical processes and the one produced through distillation and fermentation. Since ethanol is an industrial alcohol, we will take a look at some facts about industrial alcohol:
The truth of the matter is that industrial alcohol shares the same formula fermented alcohol has (C2H5OH). The difference between the two though, is that industrial alcohol isn’t considered khamr, while distilled alcohol, since it comes from the distillation of khamr, might be considered khamr itself.
The common viewpoint among the ulema is that any intoxicating substance that is originally liquid is najis. The question is, does industrial alcohol fall under this category or not?
According to the common viewpoint here, it seems that industrial alcohol can’t be considered an intoxicant although it is used in intoxicating drinks. The reason that it isn’t considered an intoxicant isn’t that they add poisonous and foul-smelling substances such as methanol to it, but because it is so dense and concentrated that if no additives are added to it, drinking even a little is poisonous, this is why this substance (industrial alcohol) isn’t considered as an intoxicant by the people (urf).[5]
Other Translation:
نمایه: حکم ترکیبات الکل یا ژلاتین در مواد غذایی، سوال شماره 32.
[1] . Tawdzīh al-Masā’il of Marāja‘, Vol.1, Pg.145; Istiftā’āt by Ayatollah Khamenei, q. 302,304,305,306,307(Published by Jameh Mudarrasin).
[2] . For further information in this regards, please refer to IslamQuest Website.
[3] . The official website of the office of Sayyid Sistani (ha), Question & Answer » Eating & Drinking.
[4] . Ibid.
[5] The Hawza website, the page of the E-library on Alcohol and its products.