Question #348:
Is nutmeg Ḥarām?
Answer:
Imām Ibn Ḥajr al-Haytamī raḥimahullāh said:
“Major sin number 170: Consuming a pure intoxicant, like hashish (cannabis), opium, Shaykrān, which is an anesthetic, and like Anbar, Saffron, and Nutmeg…That which the Imām, al-Mujtahid Shaikhul Islām Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd clarified is that nutmeg is an intoxicant. It was recorded from him by the latter Scholars from the Shāfiyyah and Malikiyyah. They relied upon his statement and prohibited it due to that. Rather, Ibn ‘Imād exaggerated and made hashish (cannabis) the analogy for the mentioned nut…” [az-Zawājir ‘an Iqtirāf al-Kabīr (1/355)]
Imām adh-Dhahabī raḥimahullāh said:
“It acts similar to hashish (cannabis). The unemployed people add Saffron to it and become intoxicated so as to have a pleasurable time, digest their food, and aid them upon evil”. [aṭ-Ṭibb an-Nabawī pg. 98]
Shaykh al-Albānī raḥimahullāh was asked:
Question: “Nutmeg, Oh Shaykh?
Shaykh: It is known that a lot of nutmeg is an anesthetic and not an intoxicant, so if it is affirmed through chemical analysis that it intoxicates, then it is ḥarām.
Questioner: an anesthetic is ḥarām?
Shaikh: The anesthetic which is harmful from them is ḥarām…”
[Silsilatul-Hudā wan-Nūr no. 25]
Compiled by Brother Faiṣal bin ʿAbdul Qādir
Source: http://darussaafi.com/?p=1758