Aslam

Praise be to Allah.The point of reference for Islamic rulings must be the

texts of the Qur’aan and Sunnah, not one’s own opinion, mood, desire or ideas

about what is nice. Concerning this very issue many reports have been narrated which

strictly forbid this (women wearing perfume when they go out). These reports include

saheeh ahaadeeth in which the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade

women to wear perfume when they go out of their houses:

Abu Moosa al-Ash’ari said: the Messenger of Allaah

(peace and

blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Any woman who puts on perfume then passes by

people so that they can smell her fragrance, is an adulteress.”

Zaynab al-Thaqafiyyah reported that the Prophet

(peace and blessings of

Allaah be upon him) said: “If any one of you (women) goes out to the mosque, let her

not touch any perfume.”

Abu Hurayrah said: the Messenger of Allaah

(peace and blessings of

Allaah be upon him) said: “Any woman who has scented herself with bakhoor (incense),

let her not attend ‘Ishaa’ prayers with us.”

Moosa ibn Yassaar said that a woman passed by Abu Hurayrah and her scent

was overpowering. He said, “O female slave of al-Jabbaar, are you going to the

mosque?” She said, “Yes,” He said, “And have you put on perfume

because of that?” She said, “Yes.” He said, “Go back and wash

yourself, for I heard the Messenger of Allaah

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)

say: ‘If a woman comes out to the mosque and her fragrance is overpowering, Allaah

will not accept any prayer from her until she goes home and washes herself.’”

The reason for this prohibition is quite clear, which is that

women’s fragrance may cause undue provocation of desires. The scholars also included

other things under this heading of things to be avoided by women who want to go to the

mosque, such as beautiful clothes, jewellery that can be seen, excessive adornments and

mingling with men. See Fath al-Baari, 2/279.

Ibn Daqeeq al-‘Eed said:

This indicates that it is forbidden for a woman who wants to go to the

mosque to wear perfume, because this causes provocation of men’s desires. This was

reported by al-Manaawi in Fayd al-Qadeer, in the commentary on the first hadeeth of

Abu Hurayrah quoted above.

Having examined all this saheeh evidence, there can be no room for

debate or argument. Muslim women have to understand the seriousness of the issue and the

sin involved in going against this shar’i ruling. They should remember that they are

going out to seek reward, not to fall into sin. We ask Allaah to keep us safe and sound.

By the way, we recently read that biologists have discovered a sexual

gland in the nose, i.e., there is a direct connection between the sense of smell and the

provocation of desire. If this is true, then it is one of the signs that prove even to the

kuffaar how precise are the rulings of this sharee’ah which came to preserve chastity

and to block the ways that lead to immorality.