Short answer
It depends on how it is used. Drinking ethanol, or any drink that can intoxicate, is haram. Mufti Taqi Usmani and many Deobandi muftis allow a small amount of ethanol not made from grapes or dates as a carrier in flavourings, where the food cannot intoxicate. Some Deobandi muftis, and the other three schools, are stricter.
Khamr (wine from grapes or dates) is haram and impure in any amount. Ethanol from grain, cane, corn or synthesis is haram to drink in any amount on the fatwa position. Mufti Taqi Usmani holds that, because of widespread need, there is room to follow Imam Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf on non-grape alcohol used in small amounts as a solvent or preservative, when the product cannot intoxicate.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Every intoxicating liquid is khamr and impure, so most scholars of the school avoid food with added ethanol.
- Maliki
- Every intoxicating liquid is khamr and impure, so ethanol added to food is avoided.
- Hanbali
- Every intoxicant is khamr and impure, so ethanol added to food is avoided.
Explanation
Ethanol is the alcohol in alcoholic drinks. It is also made on an industrial scale from corn, sugar cane, grain or petroleum, and used as a solvent in flavourings, colourings and extracts. Labels may call it alcohol, ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol or cane alcohol. So the real question is not whether it is alcohol, but how it reaches you.
As a drink: haram in any amount, whatever it is made from. The Hanafi fatwa follows Imam Muhammad that every intoxicating drink is forbidden, a sip as much as a glass (see how much alcohol is haram).
As an ingredient: the Hanafi school separates khamr, made from grapes or dates, from other alcohols. Imam Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf did not give the other intoxicants the full ruling of khamr: they held them forbidden in the amount that intoxicates or when taken for amusement. The fatwa for drinks follows Imam Muhammad, but Mufti Taqi Usmani explains that industrial ethanol is almost never from grapes or dates and is used everywhere, so there is room to act on the earlier view for medicines and similar uses. Many Deobandi muftis apply this to flavourings and extracts, on three conditions:
- it is not made from grapes or dates;
- the amount in the food cannot intoxicate;
- it is not taken as a drink or for pleasure.
So a natural flavouring with an ethanol carrier, or a cake made with vanilla extract, is acceptable on this view. Not everyone accepts it: some Deobandi dar al-iftas advise avoiding food with added ethanol, and the Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali schools treat every intoxicating liquid as khamr. Alcohol-free flavourings are easy to find if you prefer the stricter view. Adding vodka, rum or wine to food is not allowed on any view: those are alcoholic drinks (see food cooked with wine or beer). Medicines are covered in medicine with alcohol.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Maaida 5:90
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَا ٱلْخَمْرُ وَٱلْمَيْسِرُ وَٱلْأَنصَابُ وَٱلْأَزْلَٰمُ رِجْسٌۭ مِّنْ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنِ فَٱجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ﴿٩٠﴾
O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.
Commands avoiding intoxicants.
Sahih Muslim 2003
Sahih... كل مسكر خمر وكل مسكر حرام ...
"Every intoxicant is khamr, and every intoxicant is haram."
Forbids every intoxicating drink, whatever it is made from.
Sunan Abi Dawud 3681
Graded hasan sahih... ما أسكر كثيره فقليله حرام ...
"Whatever intoxicates in a large amount, a small amount of it is haram."
The basis for the fatwa that even a sip of an alcoholic drink is haram.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Takmilat Fath al-Mulhim (Mufti Taqi Usmani), Kitab al-Ashriba. Modern alcohols are mostly not from grapes or dates, and there is room to act on the view of Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf for them in medicines and other uses of widespread need.
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Ashriba. The difference between khamr and other intoxicating drinks.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.