- EN (English)
| Fatwa ID: | 84196 |
| Title: | Is it okay to eat in restaurants that sell wine? |
| Category: | Manners and Ethics |
| Scholar: | Mohammad Said Mitwally Ibrahim, Ph.D. |
| Date: | 04/10/2011 |
assalamu alikom ; we used to go to restaurants what ever it was italian mexican american or so on , and all of them sells wine and has a bar inside is that Haram to eat at kinda of restaurants ??
Restaurants serving wine or pork are places where Allah is publically disobeyed and where a lot of unlawful acts are being practiced. The basic responsibility of a Muslim entering such place is to proactively change it to keep up with the law of Allah, a matter which becomes impossible in such a case where a Muslim is seeking services of those restaurants. The minimum requirement of a Muslim in such a case is to reject those practices and to show displeasure and seek Allah's help to stick to the straight path. For those reasons, Muslim scholars had a consensus on the impermissibility of joining these places. The Qur'an condemned Muslims' involvement in sacrilegious talks about Allah, " And it has already come down to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allah [recited], they are denied [by them] and ridiculed; so do not sit with them until they enter into another conversation. Indeed, you would then be like them. Indeed Allah will gather the hypocrites and disbelievers in Hell all together" (4:140). When Omar b. Abdulaziz was brought a group of people being accused of drinking, one of them stated that he was fasting. Omar said, "Lash them all and start with him". He, afterwards recited the aforementioned verse of the Qur'an. This is the first reason of impermissibility.
Secondly, those restaurants serve in utensils which may be used for unlawful materials. The Prophet, being asked about utensils of the non-Muslims, he said, "Do not eat in those utensil except if you do not find an alternative" [Bukhari and Muslim].
Thirdly, eating in those restaurants include a tacit recommendation for others to use. A Muslim may fall a prey to an insinuation of the Satan and take any of those prohibited beverages or foods.
May Allah guide us all to the straight path.
