The Unified Substance Framework: An Islamic Jurisprudential Classification of Ethanol and Ethanol-Containing Products in Food, Medicine, Hygiene, and Trade

Abstract

The Unified Substance Framework (v1.0) A fiqh framework for classifying alcohol and ethanol in everyday products: food, drinks, medicine, perfume and sanitiser, and trade. 📘 Full Framework (132 pages): the rules with their evidence, all four madhāhib, the opposing views at their strongest, hadith chain analysis, worked cases, and a list of every point where it departs from the madhāhib. 📗 Quick Guide (13 pages): the same rules in plain English, as step-by-step questions you can run any product or situation through. It answers three separate questions: 1. Can I eat, drink, or take it as medicine? 2. Can I buy, sell, carry, or serve it? 3. Can a Muslim use alcohol as an ingredient or process it? Covers things like: vanilla extract, cooking with wine, beer batter, kombucha, alcohol-free beer, soy sauce, cough syrups, anaesthesia, perfume, hand sanitiser, mouthwash, working where alcohol is sold, and sitting where it's served. ⚠️ This is a personal working framework, not a fatwa. It hasn't yet been reviewed by a scholar. Corrections and critique are welcome. AI was used for the source checking and referencing and the wording of some responses whilst the positions and arguments are mine.