mouthwash

[lamya]

I'm bought a colgate mouthwash and i read the ingredients and it has alcohol. Is it okay to use the mouthwash, i want some reliable source about it or anything like that plz.

jazakumullah

 

[Abdul Fattah]

even if it is for the purpose of rinsing you will undoubted swallow some, even if it is only a drop, it's a drop to much. Sorry, seems you wasted your money

 

[Malaikah]

^Not necessarily...

Did it just say alcohol on its own sis? Or was there another word attached to it?

 

[skhalid]

There is no problem in using a mouth-wash...i doubt any contain alcohol..although you should always check the label

 

[HBot 5000]

I am glad someone has bought this up. When i was in KSA the local shops sold alcohol and non-alcholic mothwashes. Some said yes they are permissible and others not. We first have to understand what exactly is Alchohol:

Chemistry. any of a class of chemical compounds having the general formula ROH, where R represents an alkyl group and –OH a hydroxyl group, as in methyl alcohol, CH3OH, or ethyl alcohol, C2H5OH.

Now commonly when we think of alcohol we think of beer, spirtis etc :

Also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, ethanol, fermentation alcohol. A colorless, limpid, volatile, flammable, water-miscible liquid, C2H5OH, having an etherlike odor and pungent, burning taste, the intoxicating principle of fermented liquors, produced by yeast fermentation of certain carbohydrates, as grains, molasses, starch, or sugar, or obtained synthetically by hydration of ethylene or as a by-product of certain hydrocarbon syntheses: used chiefly as a solvent in the extraction of specific substances, in beverages, medicines, organic synthesis, lotions, tonics, colognes, rubbing compounds, as an automobile radiator antifreeze, and as a rocket fuel. Compare denatured alcohol, methyl alcohol. Whiskey, gin, vodka, or any other intoxicating liquor containing this liquid.


From this we deduce that their are different kinds of alcohols and not all are intoxicating. If it has a ROH group it can be called an alcohol (lol has flashbacks of A-level chemistry).

So what do the scholars say?

http://www.islamqa.com/index.php?ref=20034&ln=eng&txt=mouthwash

Mouthwashes containing alcohol

Question:
I have been advised not to use Listerine, a kind of mouthwash, because it contains some form of alcohol. However, if the kind of alcohol it contains is not an intoxicant, is there some other reason for its prohibition or would it be permissible to use it?

Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.

If the alcohol which this mouthwash contains is not intoxicating, then it is ok. to use it, so long as it is not harmful, because what is haraam is only that which is intoxicating.

Shaykh Sa’d al-Humayd.

In this case we should look at the drink as a whole: if a lot of it causes intoxication then a little of it is haraam.

Islam Q&A
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid