Are Cosmetics That Contain Red Wine Extract Permissible to Use For Application?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

I have a skin toner that contains red wine extract. I don’t know what it is and used it many times. Some site says it’s extracted with very minute alcohol (0.04%). And I think it was in powdered form originally. Is it haram, and do things around me become impure by touching and using it?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.

One should avoid using non-food products that contain red wine extract as an ingredient, even though it may have a minute amount of alcohol and is not intended for consumption but rather for skin application. It is better to be religiously cautious and choose cosmetics labeled ‘alcohol-free,’ especially since such products are readily available.

One is permitted to use various perfumes, deodorants, and creams that contain alcohol not made from grapes and dates (khamr), which is impermissible and filthy, or it is a synthetic alcohol formulated from chemical substances.

[Taqi Usmani, Takmila al-Fath al-Mulhim]

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Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.