Can I wear perfume which contains alcohol? Can I use it during the praying time?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The Muslim scholars differed whether using perfumes containing alcohol is permissible or not. The reason for this difference in opinions is based on two points:

a) Does alcohol that exist in perfumes cause drunkenness or not?

b) Is wine among ritual impurities or not?

According to the preponderant opinion, the alcohol that exists in perfumes causes drunkenness and it is the same substance existing in wine, and wine is among the ritual impurities.

Allah Says (what means): {O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.} [Quran 5:90]

Based upon the above reasons the preponderant opinion is to avoid using such perfumes even if other materials are added to them, and one cannot drink them. The reason for avoiding perfumes is due to the impurity of the alcohol.

This ruling of impurity and prohibition of using such perfumes apply when the impure materials do not change during the manufacturing process. If alcohol no longer exists in its original form but has completely changed so as not to cause drunkenness, then the resulting perfumes would no longer be considered impure. All the above details concern the use of alcohol itself. Touching it does not nullify one's ablution, even if one touches a clear impurity it does not nullify the ablution according to the most preponderant opinion.

However, performing prayers using the material that contains alcohol is not permissible, since the body, the clothes of a praying person, as well as the place where the prayer is performed should be clean (pure) for the validity of the prayer.
For more benefit on the prohibition of alcohol in Islam, please refer to Fataawa 81900 and 81389.

For more benefit on alcohol in food, please refer to Fataawa 258754, 327754, 96550, 299059, 81423 and 88496.

Allah knows best.