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Is it permissible for someone who is forced to drink that which is forbidden due to the unavailability of water in the desert to mention God's name before drinking it?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Allah Almighty has forbidden evil and impure things, but He has made an exception for cases of necessity, based on His saying: "And He has explained to you in detail what He has forbidden you, except that which you are compelled to [eat or use]." From this verse, scholars derived the rule: "Necessities permit the prohibited," meaning that what is forbidden by Islamic law becomes permissible when there is a necessity. Examples include: eating carrion in times of famine, swallowing a morsel with wine for someone who finds nothing else, and uttering a word of disbelief under duress. This rule is a branch of the rule: "Harm is to be removed." Therefore, if a person is compelled and fears perishing, it is permissible for him to consume what is forbidden to save himself. In this case, it appears that he may pronounce the name of Allah, as he would when using what is permissible.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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