<![CDATA[This article examines the legal status of Minas, a fermented beverage made from cassava tape in North Sinjai District, through the framework of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah and the criterion of ḥalālan ṭayyiban. It addresses a gap in the scholarship, which is divided between laboratory reports that measure ethanol content without drawing legal consequences and normative fiqh studies of khamr detached from actual production practices. The study employs qualitative field research and combines maqāṣid-based, theological-normative, juridical-shar‘ī, and sociological approaches. Data from observation and semi-structured interviews with ten informants — producers, religious figures, and consumers — are triangulated with two published laboratory studies, classical fiqh literature, and Fatwa Number 10 of 2018 of the Indonesian Ulema Council. The findings reveal a marked divergence in the laboratory evidence: one study reports ethanol content below the 0.5 per cent threshold, whereas a more recent study at an accredited public health laboratory reports averages of 1.5 to 1.9 per cent, threefold the fatwa threshold. The article argues that the legal status of Minas attaches not to the product’s name but to its condition when consumed, and proposes a three-tier ruling: permissibility for production controlled and verified below the threshold, suspicion (syubhat) for products whose ethanol content is unknown or that display continued fermentation, and prohibition for products reaching or exceeding the threshold or proven to be intoxicating. The study contributes by demonstrating that maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah can function as an operational instrument for assessing legal objects whose properties change over time, not merely as normative discourse.]]>
