Muslim Consumption of Intoxicants
Section17. Muslim Consumption of Intoxicants
Any informed Muslim adult who intentionally, knowingly or recklessly consumes intoxicants is guilty of an offense and shall be punished with whipping numbering forty stripes.
Explanatory Notes
The mental element required for conviction is intention, knowingly or at least recklessly, which occurs when:
- The actor intentionally, with full awareness of the intoxicating nature of the substance, consumes the intoxicant while desiring its intoxicant effect; or
- The actor knowingly, with full awareness of the intoxicating nature of the substance, consumes the intoxicant although he may not desire its intoxicant effect, or
- The actor recklessly consumes a substance while he suspects that the substance is an intoxicant.
Consuming an intoxicant for a medical purpose is not permissible according to Imams Shafi’i and Malak. See 8 Nihayat al-muhtaj ila sharh al-Minhaj fi al-fiqh ala madhab al-Imam al-Shafi’i at 114. Although many scholars require the oral consumption of the intoxicant, it is not required in this section given that offenders currently may consume the intoxicant by various means to escape punishment. This section lists the punishment of whipping numbering forty stripes according to Hadith that stated the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) punished offenders with only forty stripes.
Section 17 equates the consumption of alcohol and narcotics because the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) forbade both. Narrated Umm Salamah, Ummul Mu’minin: The Messenger of Allah forbade every intoxicant and everything which produces languidness. See Sunan Abi Dawud Hadith # 3686.
