This thread is intended to be a continuance of the thread in General
The gist of the issue, as I read the thread, is whether or not it is the presence of ethanol (the alcohol which causes intoxication) in a drink that makes it haraam, or whether a particular drink is haraam depends on whether that drink can intoxicate, in any amount.
As many correctly point out, a strong hadith exists that states if a large amount of something intoxicates, than even a small amount is haraam.
My contention is whether this hadith is being misapplied in this particular case. I do not mean to argue that, say, a sip of whiskey is allowable though a bottle is haraam. Clearly, any amount of whiskey is undoubtably haraam.
However, I would maintain that the logic of stating that the presence of ethanol (otherwise known as ethyl alcohol) in a drink makes it haraam is incorrect. I use the example of fruits and fruit juices.
As we all know, fermenting fruit juices turn them into haraam, intoxicating substances. However, even when the fruit is still on the tree, an extremely small amount of fermentation does take place.
http://www.sweetpoison.com/articles/dr-woodrow-monte10.html
The link above, for instance, states that fresh orange juice contains 380mg of ethyl alchohol (the intoxicating alcohol found in wine, beer, whiskey, etc) per litre. This means over 0.03% of fresh orange juice is an intoxicating chemical.
On the other hand, no matter how much orange juice anyone has ever been known to drink, no one has gotten intoxicated from it. It is on a similar basis that Dr. Badawi and others have stated that drinks which cannot intoxicate no matter how much you drink cannot be considered haraam, even if they contain ethanol.
I have given the specific case for orange juice, but for just about all fruits this same situation does exist, because the chemical and bacteriological conditions that lead to the presence of a small amount of ethanol in oranges exists in most fruits.
If the logic that the mere presence of ethanol makes something haraam is true, then this would make fruit haraam. Even though fruit itself does not intoxicate, one of the components of fruits, if extracted and concentrated and taken in large quantity, would.