Mufti Abdul Qavi’s comments about the permissibility of alcohol and that it can be deemed ‘halal’ in some circumstances have angered public during the month of Ramzan.
Abdul Qavi, who had featured prominently in the days leading up to the death of social media star Qandeel Baloch, could be heard speaking to an interviewer from a web-based information portal that alcohol derived from minerals and other substances, ought to be halal, in his view.
Qavi was asked to comment on reports of a fatwa allegedly issued by Saudi clerics that had deemed beverages containing 40 per cent alcohol or less, as permissible or halal.
“I got various calls from Europe a few days ago and some youngsters told me that Saudi ulema had deemed those beverages halal which contain 40 per ccent or less alcohol in them.”
“This is their [Saudi ulema’s] opinion. I will give mine. I would say that alcohol derived from minerals, such as spirits, petrol and other substances, if it is applied on clothes or elsewhere, then it does not render them impure. Now what is the Shariah status [on this matter], whether it [such alcohol] is halal in 100 per cent [quantity] or less, this will be decided only after a thorough consideration,” he said.
When asked about medicines that contained alcohol in them, Qavi narrated that when some people in Madinah complained to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) about a stomach disease, he prescribed a treatment (containing alcohol in it).
“The treatment that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) suggested — considering it in that light, and not just according to the opinion of Mufti Qavi but all the scholars of Islamic jurisprudence are on the same page — that everything which is deemed haram in Islam becomes permissible if it is used to find a cure [for a disease].”
Qavi said that the lesson one should take from this incident is that homeopathic medicines or cough or flu medicines that have alcohol in them are halal and are permissible to be consumed.
‘If tobacco paan is halal, then so are today’s beverages’
Qavi also spoke about how certain ulema chewed paan containing tobacco, which is an intoxicant.
“If I put one of their paans in my mouth, the intoxication I experience within a minute is something I cannot even begin to describe. What is alcohol, what is intoxication, what are addictive drinks, and what are addictive foods? If tobacco is addictive and haram, then in the same way alcohol is also haram. If the tobacco paan favoured by our ulema are halal, then we will have to say that today’s [alcoholic] beverages are also halal.”
