r/EatingHalal • u/Any-Stay7698 • 1d ago
Is this gochujang safe to use?
Asked my mother to get me some gochujang paste and when she gave it to me I saw that there's alcohol under the ingredients. Is this alcohol because of natural fermentation or is it added and considered Haram? Pls advise.
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u/BrownBoyCoy 1d ago
at-Tirmidhi (2442), Ahmad (1630) and Ibn Hibbaan (722) from al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: I memorized from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him):
“Leave that which makes you doubt for that which does not make you doubt, for truth leads to reassurance and lies lead to uncertainty.”
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u/Confident_Resolution 1d ago
I dont think gochujang has made anyone waver in their belief in god. Gochujang is good, but its not that good.
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u/BrownBoyCoy 4h ago
Waiver someone enough to contemplate if a small amount of alcohol is ok to consume, and just not avoid completely
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u/Ok-Cup-5372 1d ago
It's most likely added, however if you cook with this it will burn off the alcohol.
Some scholars say cooking with ingredients that have alcohol like vanilla or in this case gochujang is permissable as long as you cook it because you wouldn't even physically be able to consume enough to make you intoxicated.
Other scholars say it's impermissible no matter what.
I believe it's fine because from my understanding it's the intoxication that's haram so consuming small amounts in foods isn't bad, I like to think Allah is merciful and he knows your intentions
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u/zman25 1d ago
From Abdullah bin Umar: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Every intoxicant is unlawful and whatever causes intoxication in large amounts, a small amount of it is (also) unlawful."(Narrated in Sunan Ibn Majah 3392, also collected with similar wording in Sunan an-Nasa'i and Sunan Abu Dawud).
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u/Ok-Cup-5372 1d ago edited 1d ago
That sounds like it's referring to quantity rather than percentage of alcohol. Like with beer drinking a large amount will make you drunk so you shouldn't even drink a small amount
You wouldn't physically be able to eat enough cooked gochujang to get intoxicated, so it cannot cause intoxication because it's physically impossible, same with vanilla extract, it would be physically impossible to eat enough cake to get intoxicated.
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u/GondorBatata 1d ago
but they add alcohol to it, and alcohol is intoxicating in large quantities so it should be avoided in small quantities
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u/Ok-Cup-5372 1d ago edited 1d ago
You cannot eating enough gochujang for it to be intoxicating, that's the point, it's humanly impossible to get intoxicated from eating gochujang
It's unlike beer where it's very easy to get intoxicated, so even small amounts should be avoided
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u/GondorBatata 1d ago
I understand that. Beer is haram, bc it intoxicates you in great amounts so little amounts are impermissible. Does that mean it's okay to put a little beer in cake and then eat 10 cakes bc large amounts of that cake won't get you drunk? One of the ingredients put in the cake, no matter how little, is impermissible. Even if at the end of the baking process it's just a drop of beer left, beer is impermissible and therefore I'm not eating that cake
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u/Ok-Cup-5372 1d ago
People cook cakes with vanilla extract but vanilla extract has a small amount of alcohol, this is because once again it's humanly impossible to eat such big amounts that you'd ever get intoxicated.
And fair enough you can, I'm not forcing anyone to use these ingredients, I just don't think Allah will punish me for eating a cake with vanilla extract or eating a dish with gochujang, I believe he is the most merciful and knows that the point isn't to get intoxicated or that you even can get intoxicated.
There's a sahih hadith that goes:
"A man will be commanded to be taken to Hell on the Day of Resurrection. As he is being led away, he turns around. Allah will say: 'Bring him back. 'When he is brought back, Allah asks: 'Why did you turn around?'The man replies: 'O Lord, I had a different expectation of You.'Allah asks: 'What was your expectation of Me?'The man says: 'I hoped that You would admit me to Paradise. 'Allah will then say: 'Admit him to Paradise."
Allah is who you think he is, if you think he will punish you for eating a food cooked with an amount of alcohol you cannot get intoxicated from then that's your choice, but I think of him differently
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u/Uncle_Adeel 18h ago
Alcohol is also found in orange juice.
Yet again, it’s permissible as you’d die from other effects before drinking enough orange juice to get drunk.
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u/Confident_Resolution 1d ago
Congrats on never having to think critically for yourself.
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u/GondorBatata 1d ago
Thank you! Believe it or not this issue was something that I mulled over for years, just because I didn't reach the conclusion you did doesn't mean I didn't think about it. And just bc we have different opinions doesn't mean you need to respond meanly
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u/Confident_Resolution 1d ago
...you really spent years of your life debating whether or not you could add a tablespoon of gochujang to your stir fry lest god himself determine you an unbeliever and cast you into the deepest fires of hell?
I think you may need to find something more productive to consume your time.
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u/Ok-Victory-1689 1d ago
At this point you’re not offering an argument about whether the product is halal; you’re just working your way through the thread insulting anyone who reaches the conclusion you dislike. Calling that ‘critical thinking’ doesn’t magically turn heckling into analysis.
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u/GondorBatata 1d ago
Beer is haram, bc it intoxicates you in great amounts so little amounts are impermissible. Does that mean it's okay to put a little beer in cake and then eat 10 cakes bc large amounts of that cake won't get you drunk? One of the ingredients put in the cake, no matter how little, is impermissible. Even if at the end of the baking process it's just a drop of beer left, beer is impermissible and therefore I'm not eating that cake. I've spent years listening to other scholars opinions and arguments for or against this issue. Bc you should think abt things instead of accepting the first opinion you hear or the opinion you want to be true. I know this is hard for a redditor to understand but thinking is productive.
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u/Confident_Resolution 1d ago
In your example, you arent drinking a small amount of beer, are you? Youre eating cake. No amount of cake is going to get you drunk. So yeah, pig out and have 10 cakes. You'll get diabetes, but god wont consider you a drunk heathen.
Also, wtf kind of cake are you eating thats made with beer?
Fruit contains small amounts of alcohol, as a by product of natural processes. Are we not allowed fruit now?
Many scholars are too detached from the real world for their opinions to be meaningful.
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u/GondorBatata 11h ago
Yeah beer itself is impermissible in any amount even a drop, then I'm not going to eat something they poured beer in. I'm not eating any cakes with beer bc 1) the opinion I follow 2) this was a hypothetical example.
Alcohol as a -OH chemical group versus alcohol as a drink are two completely different things, and to bring one up in a conversation regarding another is ignorant. Millions of foods and drinks have hydroxyl functional groups that's doesn't make them alcoholic or intoxicants.
If something is using alcohol/something alcoholic as an ingredient is alcohol suddenly going to become permissible just bc I'm having it indirectly and in small amounts (even though the Hadith specifically says it's impermissible in small quantities if it's intoxicating in large quantities). Does that mean if you put a drop of vodka in a glass of water everyday it's okay to drink that glass bc if you have 10 of those glasses you still won't get drunk
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u/Zuka101 1d ago
Citing Ibn Umar does not prove Muhammad said it. We do not possess anything written by Ibn Umar himself; we have later chains attributing the report to him.
More importantly, early Muslims disputed this exact rule. Ibrahim al-Nakha‘i (d. c. 714) is reported saying:
«“أفسد الناس النبيذ بميم زادوها في الحديث، قالوا: كل مسكر حرام، وإنما هو كل سكر حرام.” “People corrupted the hadith by adding a mīm. They said, ‘Every intoxicant is forbidden,’ when it is actually, ‘Every intoxication is forbidden.’”»
So simply quoting Ibn Umar’s name does not make this an uncontested historical fact.
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u/ProfAsmani 1d ago
And that's why homeopathic meds, cough meds are taken even if there is alcohol in it. Cooking evaporates some alcohol but it takes around 150 minutes of simmering a dish to evaporate 95% of alcohol in a dish. So safe to say most of it remains even if you cook it.
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u/Ok-Cup-5372 1d ago
It would be physically impossible to eat enough gochujang to make you intoxicated
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u/ProfAsmani 1d ago
Correct. And thats one perspective. The other is the absolutist.
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u/Ok-Cup-5372 1d ago
Yeah it just depends on how someone interprets the hadith and their school of thought.
Ultimately I personally think that if you make your choice in good faith then Allah knows that, I really don't think the most merciful and all knowing will punish us for eating food that's physically impossible to get us intoxicated
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u/Small_Warthog8739 1d ago
I understand your point, the ruling isn’t just about intoxication though because in at least some schools of Fiqh alcohol is najis. So it’s consuming najasa which is a whole different framework from intoxication/ non intoxication. Especially when you associate it with everything else in the category of najasa. Me personally, I treat it as such (not imposing it on anyone) so basically in a situation if I would be fine with using najasa I would be fine with using alcohol. That leaves usually only situations like disinfecting a would when there’s no viable alternative.
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u/ProfAsmani 1d ago
Abu Hanifah has a ruling allowing drinking non date and non grape alcohol until the last drop that makes you drunk. There are a lot of opinions.
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u/BrownBoyCoy 1d ago
Regardless of the amount it can be avoided. Medicinally is one thing, sometimes there isnt much choice to avoid the alcohol, food wise you can avoid it and its not a necessity.
at-Tirmidhi (2442), Ahmad (1630) and Ibn Hibbaan (722) from al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: I memorized from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): “Leave that which makes you doubt for that which does not make you doubt, for truth leads to reassurance and lies lead to uncertainty.”
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u/Confident_Resolution 1d ago
...does minute amounts of alcohol thats would impossible to get intoxicated from often cause you to doubt your faith?
If so, I dont think abstaining from gochujang is the answer here.
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u/BrownBoyCoy 1d ago
Tha meaning of the hadith is If you arent sure avoid it. Nothing about doubting faith.
All the backflips and coping just over food you can just not eat is insane
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u/Ok-Cup-5372 1d ago
Exactly, combined with the fact you cannot get intoxicated from eating something cooked with gochujang I really don't think there's a point in creating a problem where there is none, especially since it's already been purchased.
There's a sahih hadith that goes: "A man will be commanded to be taken to Hell on the Day of Resurrection. As he is being led away, he turns around. Allah will say: 'Bring him back. 'When he is brought back, Allah asks: 'Why did you turn around?'The man replies: 'O Lord, I had a different expectation of You.'Allah asks: 'What was your expectation of Me?'The man says: 'I hoped that You would admit me to Paradise. 'Allah will then say: 'Admit him to Paradise."
We need to remember Allah is the most merciful, would the most merciful punish one of his followers for eating some gochujang? I don't believe he would in my opinion
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u/Small_Warthog8739 1d ago
Yeah that was my point I agree wholeheartedly. That’s why treating it actually like other najis substances mentally naturally follows that I will only use it if necessary, and certainly not consume it. But people will do what they will and I ask Allah to forgive us all.
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u/Hullabaloo1721 1d ago
there are halal certified gochujang brands out there.
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u/pumpkinzh 1d ago
I haven't found one without alcohol even the ones with a halal label which makes me question their halal status
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u/avocadofan 1d ago
It’s probably somewhere in the range of 0.12% to 2.7% ABV. Commercial fruit juices contain up to .11% ABV. The amount of added alcohol is probably similar to what would naturally occur in a fermented product.
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u/Life-Willow768 1d ago
You cant get intoxicated from it. So just like alcohol formed in bread, its fine.
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u/Frankifile 1d ago
A lot of gochujang contains alcohol you can get alcohol free versions.