Is it permissible to take medicine that contains 10% alcohol (which is considered filth)?

Any alcohol that is liquid and intoxicating is considered just like wine. And taking wine for medical treatment has some detail.

If it is pure wine, it is haram to take it for medical treatment, because of the Prophet’s saying, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, “Verily, Allah has not made the healing of my nation in what He has prohibited for them.”

As for wine being consumed for medicine, it is on the condition that patient know, or that an upright doctor inform him that it will benefit him. This is also on the condition that this medicine is specific to his recovery, such that no other pure medicine can take its stead. If he is able to take pure medicine in its place, or if he or an upright doctor is not sure about its benefit, then it is haram for him to take it. All of this is what Shaykh Ibn Hajar has said in the Tuhfa. (9:170)

Amjad Rasheed

[Translated by Sr. Shazia Ahmad]

السؤال:هل يجوز تناول دواء فيه نسبة عشرة بالمائة من الكحول النجسة ؟ الجواب : الكحولُ المائعةُ المسكرةُ حكمُها حكمُ الخمر ، وفي التداوي بالخمر تفصيل هو: إن كانت الخمر صِرْفاً فيحرم تناولها للدواء لقوله صلى الله عليه وسلم :” إن الله لم يجعل شفاءَ أمتي فيما حرَّم عليها “. أما إن كانت الخمرُ مستهلكةً في دواء فيجوز تناولها حينئذ بشرط أن يعرف المريضُ أو يخبره طبيبٌ عدلٌ بأنها تنفعُه ، وبشرط أن تتعين للعلاج بأن لا يغني عنها دواءٌ طاهرٌ ، فإن أغنى عنها دواءٌ طاهرٌ أو لم يعرف نفعها بنفسه ولا بطبيب عدل فيحرم تناولها كما صرح بذلك كلِّه الشيخ ابن حجر في “التحفة”(9/170)