Is It Permitted to Use Perfume Made with Saffron?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: Assalam alaykum

Is it permitted to use perfume made with saffron?

Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

Yes, it is permitted to use perfume which is made with saffron, particularly as such perfumes are usually blends and not actually pure. If it is a pure saffron perfume, then it depends.

Anas (may Allah be well-pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) interdicted men from applying saffron. [Bukhari & Muslim]

This and other traditions (ahadith) indicating the impermissibility of applying saffron are understood to be in the context of the colour of the saffron affecting a person. This was deemed problematic as it was the nature of women’s perfumes, namely, they left a mark. It may also have been due to the fact that it was deemed to be a perfume used by women, generally, and not men.

In a context where the above detailing is no longer applicable, it would be permitted to wear a pure saffron perfume. Similarly, wearing bright coloured clothing is acceptable for men when it isn’t culturally deemed distinctively feminine.

[Qari, Mirqat al-Mafatih Sharh al-Mishkat; Sindi, Hashiyat al-Nasa’i; Sughdi, al-Nutaf fi al-Fatawa; Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah, with Tahtawi’s Gloss]

Please also see: The Ruling on Wearing Yellow Clothing and: What Role Does Culture Play in Islam?

And Allah Most High knows best.

wassalam,

[Ustadh] Tabraze Azam

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Tabraze Azam holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Leicester, where he also served as the President of the Islamic Society. He memorised the entire Qur’an in his hometown of Ipswich at the tender age of sixteen, and has since studied the Islamic Sciences in traditional settings in the UK, Jordan and Turkey. He is currently pursuing advanced studies in Jordan, where he is presently based with his family.