Sheikh Mohamed al-Najimi, a member of the Saudi Islamic Jurisprudence Academy, based his position on a proclamation by the prophet that prohibits all kinds of dealings with alcohol including buying, selling, carrying, serving, drinking, and manufacturing. Saudi and Muslim youth studying abroad would be violating Muslim law if they used biofuel, since it “is basically made up of alcohol,” he said.

 

Biofuel is produced by growing plants that are high in sugar (sugar cane, sugar beet) or high in starch (maize), which are then converted into cellular energy by using yeast fermentation to produce ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, which is also found in alcoholic beverages.

 

“Alcohol” is actually a word of Arabic origin, and Muslim chemists are generally credited with developing the art of distillation. Not all Moslems completely  oppose the use of alcohol, but the Saudi version of Islam, know in the West as Wahabism, is particularly severe.

 

What may make the situation difficult for the unfortunate Saudi students studying abroad is that most gasoline sold in the United States contains about 10% ethanol.

 

Majimi stressed that his statement was only his personal opinion, not an official fatwa, and that this important issue needs to be discussed by the relevant religious bodies.

 

 

Saudi Scholar Warns Alcohol in Bio Fuel is a Sin ((Translated by Sonia Farid, AlArabiya)

Saudi Muslim Cleric Warns that Biofuels Could be Sinful (by Eoin O’Carroll, Christian Science Monitor)