Is non-alcoholic beer halal?

Is non-alcoholic beer halal? On the stronger view (al-rājiḥ), yes, when it cannot intoxicate. Islam forbids intoxicating drinks because they cloud the mind, and the Prophet ﷺ gave a clear test for what counts as one. A drink that no amount of can make a person drunk falls outside the prohibition, whatever it is called and whatever it looks like. Drinks labeled 0.0% meet that test fully, and so do drinks with the tiny traces of alcohol that occur naturally in fruit and bread.

What makes a drink haram in Islam?

The Quran forbids khamr (5:90–91), and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) explained from the pulpit of Medina that “khamr is whatever clouds the mind,” whatever it is made from (Sahih al-Bukhari 5581). The Prophet ﷺ said, “Every intoxicant is khamr, and every intoxicant is forbidden” (Sahih Muslim 2003a). Then he gave the measure:

«مَا أَسْكَرَ كَثِيرُهُ فَقَلِيلُهُ حَرَامٌ»

“Whatever intoxicates in a large amount, a small amount of it is forbidden.”

Sunan Abi Dawud 3681, graded hasan sahih by al-Albani

The test looks at the drink as a whole. If drinking a great deal of it would make a person drunk, then even a sip is forbidden, which is why a glass of ordinary beer or wine is haram. If no quantity of it can intoxicate, it is not khamr. The jurists’ maxim says that a ruling follows its cause: where intoxication is present, the prohibition is present, and where it is absent, so is the prohibition. The fuller ruling on alcohol is in Is alcohol haram?

What about 0.5% alcohol and natural traces?

Many drinks sold as “non-alcoholic” contain a trace of alcohol, often up to half a percent, while those labeled 0.0% contain virtually none. Traces like these are part of ordinary food. Ripe fruit, fruit juice, fresh bread, kefir, and soy sauce all carry small amounts of alcohol from natural fermentation. If every trace made a food haram, Muslims could not drink orange juice.

The Sunnah addresses this directly. The Prophet ﷺ himself drank nabīdh, dates or raisins soaked in water, which begins to ferment as the days pass:

«كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يُنْتَبَذُ لَهُ أَوَّلَ اللَّيْلِ فَيَشْرَبُهُ إِذَا أَصْبَحَ يَوْمَهُ ذَلِكَ وَاللَّيْلَةَ الَّتِي تَجِيءُ وَالْغَدَ وَاللَّيْلَةَ الأُخْرَى وَالْغَدَ إِلَى الْعَصْرِ»

“Nabīdh would be prepared for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at the start of the night, and he would drink it that morning, the following night, the next day, the night after, and the day after that until the afternoon.”

Sahih Muslim 2004a

After that, Ibn ʿAbbās said, he gave what remained to his servant or had it poured out. By the third day such a drink has begun to ferment, and the Prophet ﷺ kept drinking it until shortly before it could intoxicate. Malaysia’s national fatwa committee likewise ruled in 1984 that alcohol arising as a by-product in the making of food is not impure and may be eaten.

What did the schools of law say?

The Maliki, Shafiʿi, and Hanbali schools forbid every intoxicating drink in any amount. Their rule concerns drinks that intoxicate, so it leaves a drink that cannot intoxicate outside the prohibition. The Hanafi school, following Abu Hanifa (d. 767), went further in leniency: it tied the ruling on drinks other than grape and date wine to intoxication itself, and permitted drinks from grain or honey in amounts that do not intoxicate. On Hanafi principles, a malt drink that cannot intoxicate at all is lawful.

Jaʿfari (Shia) jurists treat fermented barley beer (fuqqāʿ) as forbidden in itself, so Shia readers should ask how a particular drink is produced and follow their marjaʿ (Sunni vs Shia).

Why do some scholars advise against it?

The stricter view, held by a number of contemporary scholars, discourages or forbids these drinks for three reasons: many are brewed as beer before the alcohol is removed, their taste and look imitate drinking culture, and they may draw a person toward the real thing. The same 1984 Malaysian ruling forbade soft drinks made the way liquor is made, even when their alcohol has been distilled out. Those who hold this view point to the hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ was asked about turning wine into vinegar and said no (Sahih Muslim 1983).

The stronger view answers that a substance whose intoxicating nature is gone takes a new ruling. Wine that turns into vinegar by itself is halal by agreement of the schools, and the Prophet ﷺ praised vinegar as “an excellent relish” (Sahih Muslim 2051a). The same principle of transformation (istiḥāla) is explained in Is gelatin halal? The concerns about imitation and temptation are real, and they are matters of wisdom for each person to weigh.

How should a Muslim decide?

• Read the label. A drink labeled 0.0% is the clearest choice. A drink with up to 0.5% cannot intoxicate and is halal on the stronger view.
• Know yourself. Someone recovering from alcohol dependence may find that the taste of beer reopens an old wound. Avoiding it then is wisdom.
• Mind the setting. A malt drink at a family barbecue is different from sitting at a bar. Working or socializing where alcohol is served is discussed in Can Muslims work where alcohol or pork is sold?

The drink of Paradise

The Quran describes the wine of Paradise by what it lacks. It is pure and delicious, and the harm of the earthly drink is gone from it:

لَا فِيهَا غَوۡلٞ وَلَا هُمۡ عَنۡهَا يُنزَفُونَ

“There is no harm in it, and it does not intoxicate them.”

Quran 37:47

The prohibition was always about the mind and the harm, never about a flavor. May Allah keep our minds clear for His remembrance and give us, in the end, the cup that brings no harm.