[ExI] If you give your car a drink you'll risk going to Muslim hell

[Damien Broderick]

A prominent Muslim scholar in Saudi Arabia has 
warned that those using alcohol-based biofuels in 
their cars could be committing a sin.

The warning was issued by Sheikh Mohamed 
Al-Najimi, a member of the 
<http://www.fiqhacademy.org/english.html>Islamic 
Fiqh Academy, [[not the Fiqh U., I trust]] an 
institute that studies Islamic jurisprudence for 
the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, an 
international group with a permanent delegation 
to the United Nations. According to the Al 
Arabiya News Channel, an international news 
outlet is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 
Mr. Najim 
<http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/02/19/66803.html>directed 
his warning to Saudi youths studying abroad.

Al Arabiya notes that Najimi stressed that this 
warning was not an official fatwa, or religious 
edict, just his personal opinion. Najimi added 
that the issue “needs to be studied by the relevant religious bodies.”

Ethanol, a common type of biofuel, is made of the 
same type of alcohol found in alcoholic 
beverages, and its production is similar to that 
of hard liquor. Plant matter is fermented using 
yeast, and the result is distilled to increase the concentration of alcohol.

Fuels with high concentrations of ethanol – the 
most common being E85, a gasoline blend with 85 
percent ethanol – can be used in flex-fuel 
vehicles, which make up 
<http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/data/vehicles.html>more 
than seven million of the roughly 250 million 
passenger cars and trucks on America’s roads. 
Most gasoline sold in the United States contains 
about 10 percent ethanol. The fuel is more common 
in many Latin American countries, particularly Brazil.

In addition to beverages and biofuels, ethanol is 
a widely used in industry for its properties as a 
solvent and an antiseptic. It’s a common 
component of perfumes and paints. The chemical is 
also necessary in the production of vinegar – 
<http://www.islamonline.net/english/Science/2000/4/article7.shtml>one 
of the Prophet Muhammad’s favorite seasonings.

The Koran prohibits consumption of alcohol in 
three separate verses that were written over a 
period of several years. The first mention occurs 
in 
<http://wikilivres.info/wiki/The_Holy_Qur%27an/An-Nisa#4:43>4:43, 
in which Muslims are told that they must not pray 
while intoxicated. A verse written later – 
<http://wikilivres.info/wiki/The_Holy_Qur%27an/Al-Baqara#2:219>2:219 
– says that in wine and gambling “is great sin, 
and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater 
than the profit.” Finally, in 
<http://wikilivres.info/wiki/The_Holy_Qur%27an/Al-Meada#5:90>5:90-91, 
intoxicants and gambling are called “an abomination” and “Satan’s handiwork”:

Satan’s plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred 
between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and 
hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and 
from prayer: will ye not then abstain?

This admonition is waived in the hereafter, 
apparently: Many passages in the Islamic holy 
book describe heaven as having rivers of wine.

Ironically, it was Muslim chemists who introduced 
distillation to the West. The process of 
distilling pure ethanol from wine was perfected 
by 8th- and 9th-century Persian chemists, who 
used it to create perfumes and eyeliner. Their 
writings were translated by European scholars in 
the 12th century, and the process was used to 
make potable spirits. The word “alcohol” is itself of Arabic origin.