Fragrance for Women
Question Summary
Are women allowed to wear light fragrances outside their houses, such as a body spray with a pleasant but inconspicuous scent (cotton, lavender, candy)?
Question Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
May Allah guide every dimension of our lives to that which pleases Him.
Perfume for Women
The Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “If a woman puts on perfume and passes by people so that they can smell her fragrance, then she is such and such,” and he spoke sternly – meaning an adulteress. [Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi]
The stern warning by the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) pertains to women perfuming themselves before leaving home. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “The perfume of men is a scent without color, and the perfume of women colored without [obvious] scent.” [Abu Dawud] Scents of color were perhaps unique to that period (or possibly like henna), but the important part is the idea of noticeable scent.
Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari, the famed Afghani polymath, explains the hadith above, that women aren’t permitted to wear fragrant scents when leaving the house if doing so would attract undue attention of the opposite gender. The reason for this is that such unwarranted attention goes against the meaning of concealing one’s beauty or adornment in public settings. Allah says: “And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their chastity, and not to reveal their adornments except what normally appears.” [Qur’an 24:31]
Personal Hygiene
The same ruling would generally apply to personal hygiene products and the like such as strong-smelling detergents on one’s clothing. Situations wherein a woman won’t be around unrelated men, such as a family excursion away from unrelated men, then wearing perfume is permitted (and encouraged as adornment for her husband) even outside of the home.
Everyday personal hygiene products such as deodorant and antiperspirant that one uses to keep fresh and ward off body odor are generally permitted. The condition for using such products is that it does not invoke the undue attention of the opposite gender. If you are unsure, then rather err on the side of caution lest you fall into a religiously problematic practice, especially considering the strong words of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) in the hadith quoted above.
Cursed?
In some of the Prophetic narrations, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) used the word “la’n (lit. curse),” concerning women who use perfume. This term is often equated with the English translation ‘to curse,’ which does not share the exact nuances of the Arabic expression “la’n,” which has a much deeper meaning.
La’n as a verb means to be distant from Divine Mercy and is not an insult when mentioned by the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace), but an expression of Mercy. It is as if the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) says: don’t do the things that harm you in your relationship with Allah and distances you from His Mercy, instead abstain from those matters and earn His Mercy and Pleasure. [Munawi, Fayd Al-Qadir]
Please see the following answer to a similar question below:
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar, Shaykh Taha Karaan.
Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.
He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.
Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and pursuing his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.
