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:
1- Islam urges people to seek cure and use medicine but, at the same time, warns them against using unlawful (haram) materials.
2- As for intoxicants, they are impermissible to use. But in case of cure and medicine, the ruling is different.
3- Upon trustworthy Muslim physicians’ recommendations, if there is no remedy for a certain disease except for this oil, then it is allowed to use it as remedy.
Responding to your question, Sheikh Kifah Mustapha, the Imam and Associate Director at the Mosque Foundation, one of the largest Islamic Centers in Chicago, states,
Using any intoxicants is unlawful (haram) in Islam. However, in cases of illness matters change. It could be allowed based on a trusted Muslim physician’s assessment and according to doses he approves while no other means are available.
So, if no other means are available and a trusted physician cleared that such oil will help cure, then it is OK to consume it in only doses suggested by the doctor.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.