Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
You are aware, of course, that it is haram to consume all kinds of alcoholic beverages and intoxicants. It is equally haram to have anything to do with their production, distribution or sale. This should not be surprising when one looks at the incalculable damages that intoxicants do every day, not only to the consumer’s liver and brain, but also to the victims of his/her drunken anger, drunk driving, lost or poor work, etc.
In his response to your question, Prof. Dr. Monzer Kahf, Professor of Islamic Finance and Economics at Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, states:
It is forbidden for any Muslim to sell, brew, offer, carry, transport, buy, etc. any alcoholic beverages. If you own the store, you must immediately stop the alcoholic drink sale and empty all cans and bottles you have in the drainage in the bathroom and flush them out. You cannot sell them.
If they are put in your store by a distributor and they are still owned by the distributor, you can return them to him.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a very authentic saying put the wrath of Allah on ten things in relation to alcoholic drinks, the drink itself, selling, buying, carrying, the person to whom it is carried, transporting, brewing, etc.
He is reported to have said: “Truly, Allah has cursed khamr and has cursed the one who produces it, the one for whom it is produced, the one who drinks it, the one who serves it, the one who carries it, the one for whom it is carried, the one who sells it, the one who earns from the sale of it, the one who buys it, and the one for whom it is bought.” (At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah)
I am sure you don’t like to carry this wrath of Allah, which no true Muslim would.
On the other hand, if you are not the owner, but you work in a store that sells it, it is still forbidden for you to carry it, put it on shelves or in bags of customers, or sell it as a cashier. All these are forbidden.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.