نبيذ الزبيب
Raisins soaked in water overnight and drunk the next one to two days — discarded before it could ferment into an intoxicant, which was strictly avoided.
كَانَ يُنْبَذُ لِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي أَوَّلِ اللَّيْلِ، فَيَشْرَبُهُ إِذَا أَصْبَحَ يَوْمَهُ ذَلِكَ وَاللَّيْلَةَ الَّتِي تَجِيءُ وَالْغَدَ وَاللَّيْلَةَ الْأُخْرَى وَالْغَدَ إِلَى الْعَصْرِ، فَإِنْ بَقِيَ شَيْءٌ سَقَاهُ الْخَادِمَ أَوْ أَمَرَ بِهِ فَصُبَّ
“A drink would be prepared for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ by soaking [dates or raisins] at the start of the night; he would drink it that day, the following night, and the next day until 'Asr — whatever remained after that was given away or poured out.” (meaning, not a literal translation)
The word "nabidh" broadly means an infusion or soaking of fruit in water, and the term itself doesn't imply fermentation or intoxication — the hadith's specificity about discarding it by 'Asr the following day is precisely what distinguishes this permitted household drink from a fermented, intoxicating beverage, which remained strictly prohibited regardless of what fruit it derived from.
Ibn al-Qayyim highlights the strict timeframe as intentional: discarding the drink before natural fermentation could turn it intoxicating — an early, practical distinction between a fruit-infused drink and alcohol, which remains categorically prohibited regardless of source. He describes the drink as mildly sweet and gently nourishing while fresh, valued for its taste and easy digestibility rather than for any specific medicinal claim beyond general nourishment.
The fermentation timeline described in the hadith aligns with what's understood today about how quickly natural yeasts present on fruit skins can begin converting sugars into alcohol at room temperature — typically within one to a few days depending on temperature and sugar concentration, which is consistent with the specific, bounded timeframe the hadith describes.