Question: Are all types of alcohol najis (impure)?
ANSWER
What is haram and impure is only ethyl alcohol. The other types of it are also called alcohol in chemistry, but they are not considered impure. It is necessary to clean ethyl alcohol off one’s clothes or skin before one starts salat.

Question: Is it permissible to perform salat in clothes touched by liquid containing alcohol, such as cologne, tincture of iodine, or perfume?
ANSWER
It is permissible. When alcohol is added to such things as medicines, fragrances, or water due to some necessity, the mixture will be clean. (İslam Ahlakı)

Therefore, as alcohol is added to cologne, tincture of iodine, and perfumes due to some necessity, it does not affect the validity of salat. However, if it is added to something without any necessity, the mixture will not be clean. For example, if some alcohol is mixed into water and then the mixture is sprayed onto a garment, one cannot perform salat in that garment, thinking that it is a mixture, too.

Question: Does ointment containing alcohol affect the validity of salat?
ANSWER
No, it does not.

Question: It is written in the book İslam Ahlakı:
1. In a mixture of soil and water, if either of them is clean the mixture, i.e. the mud, will be clean. This qawl is sahih, and the fatwa is based on this.
2. There are also scholars who say that the above-mentioned fatwa is weak. However, it is permissible to follow a weak qawl when there is hardship (haraj).
3. When an impure liquid, e.g., methylated spirits, is mixed into such things as medicines and perfumes [water or soil] due to some necessity, the mixture will be clean. [But its oral intake is haram except in the cases of medication.] For this reason, tincture of iodine and cologne are considered clean in the Hanafi Madhhab.

I understand from these statements that salat will be valid when one performs it with cologne on one’s skin or garment. As cologne is considered clean, can we infer that it is permissible to perform salat when we have sprayed cologne onto our garments without any necessity?
ANSWER
Yes, this fact has been explained very clearly. Two different qawls (a qawl is a mujtahid scholar’s statement that explains the ruling of a certain act) are mentioned herein:

The first qawl says, “The mixture is clean, and this qawl is sahih. The fatwa is based on this.” When it is said, “The fatwa is based on this,” the problem has been solved. In the third item, the fatwa mentioned in the first item is explained. It is stated clearly that tincture of iodine and cologne are clean and that it is permissible to take the mixtures prepared for medicinal purposes, that is, medicines containing alcohol.

In the second item, it is stated that some scholars said that the qawl on which the fatwa was based was weak. The sahih qawl has been explained first, and then what some scholars said about it has been written. It is inferred from this explanation that it is not necessary to follow the second qawl. A clarification is made that the qawl saying that such mixtures as cologne and tincture of iodine are clean is sahih, not weak, and that the fatwa is based on this qawl. Therefore, it is not permissible to trouble Muslims by saying that this qawl is weak.

Question: If I perform salat with perfume on, will it be valid? When I spray perfume onto my garment a few times, its amount exceeds the inner portion of my palm.
ANSWER
Your salat will be valid no matter how much it is on your garment.

Question: Are alcoholic beverages and cologne considered impure (najis)?
ANSWER
Alcoholic beverages are impure in all of the four madhhabs. Cleaning impurity is fard in the three of the four madhhabs. However, according to a qawl in the Maliki Madhhab, cleaning impurity is neither fard nor wajib, but sunnat. (İslam Ahlakı)

Alcohol content of cologne is high, but it is not classified under alcoholic drinks. The presence of it does not affect the validity of salat in the Hanafi and Shafi’i madhhabs because it is a mixture. The fact that cologne is clean is written in the book İslam Ahlakı, too. According to the Maliki Madhhab, as it is not fard to clean impurity, it is permissible to offer salat in clothes onto which cologne has been sprayed.