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Does the evidence for the command to wash the vessels of polytheists before eating in them mean that wine is impure? And what is the correct explanation for the hadiths that speak of spilling wine and not commanding the washing of clothes after touching it?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The cure for obsessive thoughts (waswas) is to disregard and ignore them. The issue raised concerning the impurity of wine (khamr) is a matter of ijtihad (independent juristic reasoning), and it is a simple and straightforward matter that does not necessitate doubt or confusion. Rather, if a matter becomes unclear to you, and the ruling of Allah therein is not evident, then you should follow someone among the people of knowledge whom you trust and act upon their saying. The opinion we adopt as a fatwa is that wine is impure. This is supported by the Prophet's command to wash the vessels of the disbelievers due to the possibility of them having touched wine and pork. As for his not commanding to wash what touches the body and clothes from it, the answer to this is that their knowledge of its impurity was sufficient for them to avoid it. The issue of wine being poured into the streets of Medina does not indicate its purity because it does not cover all streets, and it is possible to avoid it. This is one of the controversial issues where texts appear to contradict each other, but the people of knowledge reconcile them.

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

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