What is the ruling on benzyl alcohol found in perfumes, deodorants, soaps, and medical products? Is it impure, necessitating washing the area where it was used to make prayer permissible? And is it an intoxicant?

Alcoholic intoxicants are considered impure by most scholars. Thus, if they are added to deodorant or soap while still intoxicating, they render these products impure.

However, if alcohol undergoes a transformation from its original state and becomes non-intoxicating, it becomes pure and does not contaminate whatever it is added to. This is the view of some scholars, such as Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, who holds that an inherently impure substance becomes pure if it undergoes a transformation, due to the disappearance of its impure properties.

If deodorant containing intoxicating alcohol is used, and the user becomes impure and prays before washing the affected area, their prayer is invalid if they were aware and deliberate. However, if they were unaware of its presence or its ruling, there is a difference of opinion regarding the validity of their prayer.

It is advisable to consult specialists regarding the nature of "benzyl alcohol" and whether or not it is intoxicating.