Short answer
Most Hanafi muftis, including the Deobandi institutions, advise against it. Drinks sold as non-alcoholic in the US can contain up to 0.5 percent alcohol, many are made by brewing real beer and removing the alcohol, and drinking them imitates beer drinkers. A malt drink that never contained alcohol is permissible, but many still advise avoiding it.
A drink brewed as beer, or one that still contains alcohol and is drunk like beer, is impermissible or at least makruh tahrimi. A malt drink that never had alcohol in it is permissible in itself, though many muftis advise against it because of its close resemblance to beer and its culture.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Scholars of the four schools share the same caution here: the issue is not only the alcohol level, but what the drink is.
There are three different products sold under this name:
- Dealcoholised beer: real beer is brewed and then the alcohol is removed. Most of these keep a small amount, up to 0.5 percent, which US rules still allow to be called non-alcoholic. Hanafi muftis treat this as impermissible, since it began as an intoxicating drink and still contains it.
- Alcohol-free beer at 0.0 percent: the alcohol is removed fully or never formed. This is a lighter case, but many muftis still advise against it.
- Malt drinks sold as halal beer: malt, hops and flavours, never fermented into alcohol. These are permissible in themselves.
Why advise against even the last two? Because the drink is designed to look, taste and be enjoyed like beer, is sold in the same places and served in the same settings, and opens the way to the real thing. The Prophet ﷺ warned against taking on the ways of a group known for something forbidden.
A useful test from the hadith: if drinking a large amount of something could make you drunk, a small amount of it is also haram. Ordinary kombucha is a different case (see kombucha). For the main ruling, read why Muslims do not drink alcohol.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Maaida 5:90
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَا ٱلْخَمْرُ وَٱلْمَيْسِرُ وَٱلْأَنصَابُ وَٱلْأَزْلَٰمُ رِجْسٌۭ مِّنْ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنِ فَٱجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ﴿٩٠﴾
O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.
Muslims keep away from intoxicants and what leads to them.
Sunan Abi Dawud 3681
Graded hasan sahih... ما أسكر كثيره فقليله حرام ...
"Whatever intoxicates in a large amount, a small amount of it is forbidden."
Gives the test for any drink that contains alcohol.
Sunan Abi Dawud 4031
Graded hasan sahih... من تشبه بقوم فهو منهم ...
"Whoever imitates a people is one of them."
The basis for avoiding drinks made to imitate beer.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Ashriba. Rulings on fermented and intoxicating drinks.
- Takmila Fath al-Mulhim (Mufti Taqi Usmani), Kitab al-Ashriba. Discussion of drinks with small amounts of alcohol.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.