The word · Law & life
خَمْر
Khamr
Intoxicants. Wine and anything else that clouds the mind, forbidden in the Qur'an.
Also written · Khamar · Hamr · Khumur · Muskir · Muskirat · Nabidh · Sharab · alcohol · wine · intoxicants · liquor · drinking · drugs · booze
The meaning
What Khamr means in Islam
The prohibition arrived in stages, ending with the command to shun it as a defilement from the work of Satan. The Prophet's rule that whatever intoxicates in large amounts is forbidden in small amounts extends the ban to every intoxicant, and it is the textbook example of qiyas at work. Hanafis kept the word khamr technically for grape wine while forbidding other intoxicants under a separate heading, arriving at the same practical result. Scholars differ over intoxicating substances used as medicine where no alternative exists.
Evidence · Qur’an · Stated directly in the Qur’an
Read beside it
Words that sit beside it
- HaramForbidden. Leaving it is rewarded, and doing it deliberately is a sin.حَرام
- HududThe small set of fixed penalties named in revelation, hedged about with very strict proof.حُدود
- QiyasAnalogy: extending a known ruling to a new case that shares the same underlying reason.قِياس
- HalalPermitted. Anything revelation has not forbidden, which is the great majority of things.حَلال
More from Law & life
- 'AqdA contract: a binding agreement formed by an offer and its acceptance.عَقْد
- DiyahBlood money: compensation paid to a victim's family for a killing or an injury.دِيَة
- IjarahHire or lease: paying for the use of something, or for another person's labour.إِجارة
- MakruhDisliked but not forbidden: leaving it is rewarded, doing it brings no sin.مَكْروه
- Mut'ahTemporary marriage for a fixed term, permitted in Twelver Shia law and prohibited in Sunni law.زَواجُ المُتْعة
- Sadd al-Dhara'iBlocking the means: forbidding something lawful because it reliably leads to something forbidden.سَدُّ الذَّرائِع