Working in an alcohol factory

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Selling alcohol and other
intoxicants is a grave evil, and working in alcohol factories is haraam
and is an evil, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Help you one another in Al Birr and At Taqwa (virtue,
righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and transgression”[al-Maa’idah 5:2]

Undoubtedly selling alcohol,
drugs and cigarettes constitutes cooperating in sin and transgression,
and working in alcohol factories also constitutes cooperating in sin
and transgression. And Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“O you who believe! Intoxicants (all kinds
of alcoholic drinks), and gambling, and Al Ansaab [stone altars for
sacrifices to idols, etc.], and Al Azlaam (arrows for seeking luck or
decision) are an abomination of Shaytaan’s (Satan’s) handiwork. So avoid
(strictly all) that (abomination) in order that you may be successful.

Shaytaan (Satan) wants only to excite enmity and
hatred between you with intoxicants (alcoholic drinks) and gambling,
and hinder you from the remembrance of Allaah and from As Salaah (the
prayer). So, will you not then abstain?”

[al-Maa’idah 5:90]

It was narrated in a saheeh
report that the Messenger of Allaah

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed alcohol, the one
who drinks it, the one who pours it, the one who extracts the juice,
the one for whom it is extracted, the one who carries it, the one to
whom it is carried, the one who sells it, the one who buys it and the
one who consumes its price.

And it was also narrated
in a saheeh report that he

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah has made a
covenant that whoever dies drinking alcohol, He will give him to drink
of the mud of khibaal.” He was asked, “O Messenger of Allaah, what is
the mud of khibaal?” He said, “The juice of the people of Hell” or “the
sweat of the people of Hell.”

With regard to the ruling,
the one who does this is a sinner and an evildoer by so doing; he is
lacking in faith and on the Day of Resurrection he will be subject to
the will of Allaah. If He wills, He will forgive him and if He wills,
He will punish him, if he dies before he repents. This is according
to the Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamaa’ah, because Allaah says (interpretation
of the meaning):

“Verily, Allaah forgives not that partners
should be set up with Him (in worship), but He forgives except that
(anything else) to whom He wills”

[al-Nisaa’ 4:48]

This ruling applies if he
does not regard that as being permissible. If he does regard it as being
permissible then he is a kaafir by doing so, and if he dies he should
not be washed or the funeral (janaazah) prayer offered for him, according
to all the scholars, because by doing that he is disbelieving in Allaah
and His Messenger

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).

The same ruling applies
to one who regards as permissible zina (adultery), sodomy, riba (usury)
and other things which are unanimously agreed to be haraam, such as
disobeying one’s parents, severing ties of kinship or killing a soul
unlawfully.

But if a person does
that or some of that knowing that it is haraam, and knowing that he
is disobeying Allaah, then he is not a kaafir; rather he is an evildoer
who will be subject to the will of Allaah in the Hereafter if he does
not repent before he dies, as stated above concerning the ruling on
one who drinks alcohol. And Allaah is the Source of strength.