Reconciling between the prohibition on turning wine into vinegar and the hadith “What a good condiment vinegar is”
Question

                In a hadith of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) it says: “What a good condiment vinegar is.”

But in the hadith of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) there is the story of the orphans who inherited some wine, and the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him} did not allow turning it into vinegar, and ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) prohibited that so long as it had not turned into vinegar by itself, and he instructed them to buy vinegar from non-Muslims if it was known that they had not intended to turn it into vinegar – as was mentioned by Shaykh al-Islam in Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa. And it is not permissible to add anything else to turn it into vinegar, and it is well-known that the origin of vinegar is wine. If that is so, then it would appear that the following is the case:

1.	it is not permissible to turn it into vinegar, because it cannot be vinegar until it has been wine

2.	it is not permissible to buy it even from non-Muslims, because they intend to make it into vinegar from the outset, and they cannot leave it to turn into vinegar by itself, because that takes a long time, and wine is more expensive than vinegar

3.	we heard from somewhere of another way, which is that an acidic substance is added to it before it becomes wine.

So how cocanme we reconcile between the prohibition on turning wine into vinegar and the hadith “What a good condiment vinegar is”?
Praise be to Allah.It 
    was narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh (2051), and by at-Tirmidhi 
    (1840) and Ibn Maajah (3316), from ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with 
    her), that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: 
    “What a good condiment vinegar is.” 

    Al-Kh attaabi said in his commentary on the hadith: What these words point 
    to is moderation in eating and refraining from overindulgence in food. It is 
    as if he was saying: Use as condiments vinegar and the like, which are 
    inexpensive and are not difficult to obtain, and do not expend too much 
    effort in pursuit of fine food, for indulging in desires spoils one’s 
    religious commitment and makes the body sick. 

    End quote from Ma‘aalim as-Sunan (4/254) 

    Vinegar may be made from things other than wine. It says in al-Insaaf 
    by al-Mirdaawi (1/320): Permissible vinegar is made by adding vinegar to the 
    grapes or to the juice before they ferment, so that they will not ferment. 
    This was stated by a number of scholars. End quote. 
In
    Mataalib Ooli an-Nuha (1/230) it says: Permissible vinegar is made by 
    adding vinegar to the grapes or to the juice before they ferment, before 
    three days and nights have past, so that they will not ferment. This was 
    narrated by a number of scholars from Ahmad. End quote. 

    The scholars have stated that the vinegar referred to in the hadith quoted 
    above is that which is not derived from wine. It says in Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi 
    (4/399): With regard to the hadith “What a good condiment vinegar is”, what 
    is meant by vinegar here is vinegar that is not produced from wine, so as to 
    reconcile between the hadiths. End quote. 
If 
    the vinegar was manufactured from something other than wine, it is 
    permissible, and there is no scholarly difference of opinion concerning 
    that. This is what was stated by the scholars of the Standing Committee when 
    they said: If the vinegar was not originally wine, then there is no dispute 
    that it is permissible, because any juice that turns acidic is called 
    vinegar (khall),

    End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (fatwa no. 3429) 
If 
    wine turns to vinegar by itself, then it becomes pure and permissible. 
It 
    says in al-Insaaf by al-Mirdaawi (1/319): The correct view is that if 
    wine turns into vinegar by itself, it becomes completely pure. This was 
    stated (by the scholars) and is the view of the majority; many of them were 
    certain of it. End quote. 

    With regard to treating wine so that it becomes vinegar, there was a dispute 
    among the scholars with regard to that. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah 
    referred to this dispute when he said:
As 
    for turning wine into vinegar, there is a difference of opinion concerning 
    it. It was said that it is permissible to turn wine into vinegar, as was 
    narrated from Abu Haneefah; it was said that it is not permissible, but if 
    it is turned into vinegar it becomes pure, as was narrated from Maalik; and 
    it was said that it is permissible to move it from the sun to the shade, and 
    to remove the cover from it, and so on, without adding anything to it, as is 
    the view of ash-Shaafa‘i and Ahmad; it was said that it is not permissible 
    at all, as was the view of some of the companions of ash-Shaafa‘i and Ahmad, 
    and this is the correct view, because it was proven from the Prophet 
    (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that he was asked about wine 
    belonging to some orphans, and he ordered that it should be poured away. It 
    was said to him: They are poor. He said: “Allah will enrich them from His 
    bounty.” When he ordered that it should be poured away and forbade them to 
    turn it into vinegar, it was obligatory to obey him with regard to his 
    instructions and prohibitions. So it is obligatory to pour wine away and not 
    make it into vinegar. This was despite the fact that they were orphans and 
    despite the fact that that wine had been acquired before the prohibition on 
    wine was introduced, so they were not sinning.

    End quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (21/483) 

    Based on that, it is not permissible to turn wine into vinegar, because of 
    the evidence to that effect in the saheeh hadiths. 

    Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) favoured the view that 
    if wine belonging to those who believe it is permissible, such as ahl 
    adh-dhimmah, has turned into vinegar, or it has been turned into vinegar by 
    Muslim who believe that it is permissible to do so, then in that case it 
    becomes vinegar and it is permissible to use it. 
He 
    (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

    The well-known view is that if it turns into vinegar it does not become 
    pure, even if its intoxicating strength has disappeared, because the 
    disappearance of the intoxicating effect has been brought about by doing 
    something that is prohibited, so it does not become permissible. Some of the 
    scholars said that it does become pure and thus becomes permissible, even 
    though the action is prohibited. They explained that by noting that the 
    reason why it is impure is because of its intoxicating effect, and the 
    intoxicating effect has disappeared, so it has become permissible. 

    Others said that if it was turned into vinegar by one who believes that 
    alcohol is permissible, such as the People of the book – the Jews and 
    Christians – it is permissible and has become pure. If it was turned into 
    vinegar by one for whom alcohol is not permissible, then it is haraam and 
    impure. This is the most correct view. Based on this, vinegar that comes 
    from the Jews and Christians is halaal and pure, because they did that on 
    the basis of their belief that it is permissible.

    End quote from ash-Sharh al-Mumti‘ (1/433) 
He 
    also said:

    But if it was turned into vinegar by someone who believes that it is 
    permissible to turn it into vinegar, whether he is a Muslim or otherwise, is 
    it permissible? 

    The correct view is that it is permissible, because it turned into vinegar 
    in a permissible way, so it is permissible. Based on that, the vinegar that 
    is imported from non-Muslim countries is permissible for the Muslims, even 
    if it was turned into vinegar by human action, because it was turned into 
    vinegar by human action on the part of one who believes that it is 
    permissible.

    End quote from ash-Sharh al-Mumti‘ (10/182) 

    And Allah knows best.