Question:
There is a hadith that says a woman should not come to the mosque for the Isha prayer wearing perfume. The question is whether this ruling applies only to the Isha prayer or whether it applies to all prayers.
Answer:
One of the hadiths mentioned is this: if a woman applies perfume and passes by people in such a way that they smell her fragrance, then she is like a fornicating woman. They mention that this narration is found in Musnad Ahmad, even giving the hadith number.
Another hadith they mention says: if a woman applies perfume and goes to the mosque, her prayer will not be accepted until she performs a bath like the bath required after major impurity.
Another hadith says: any woman who uses incense fragrance should not attend the final prayer of the night, which is Isha. So, in some hadiths it says a woman should not come to Isha prayer wearing perfume, while in some other hadiths it appears to say more generally that a woman should not come wearing perfume at all.
So, the question being asked is: which of these is correct?
In order to understand this issue, each narration must be examined individually.
First, there is the narration that says if a woman applies perfume, Allah will not accept her prayer until she bathes in the way that one bathes for major impurity. This narration appears in Musnad Ahmad.
However, regarding this hadith, one of the narrators is Asim ibn Ubaydullah, the son of Asim ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab. This narrator is considered weak. Because a weak narrator is present in the chain, this hadith cannot be relied upon.
So, the narration that says if woman wears perfume her prayer will not be accepted until she bathes cannot be accepted as authentic because of that weak narrator.
Next, there is another narration that generally says a woman should not apply perfume when coming to the mosque. This narration is found in Sahih Muslim. The wording says that if one of your women comes to the mosque, she should not touch perfume.
This narration appears as a general prohibition.
But the same narrator — Zaynab — narrates another hadith about the same issue in the same collection of Sahih Muslim.
In that other narration, it says: if you are coming to the Isha prayer, then do not apply perfume that night.
So, one narration says generally, “do not apply perfume when coming to the mosque,” and another narration specifies “do not apply perfume when coming to the Isha prayer.”
Both narrations come through the same narrator, Zaynab, and appear one after another in Sahih Muslim.
When scholars analyzed these narrations, they concluded that when one narration is general and another narration is specific, the specific narration should be taken as the correct one.
Therefore, the narration that specifies Isha prayer is considered the accurate wording. The narration that appears general may be due to a mistake in the transmission by the narrator. Because the same narrator herself reports the version specifying Isha, scholars prefer that version.
Thus, the meaning is not that perfume must never be worn at all times. Rather, the instruction is specifically connected with Isha prayer.
Another narration in Sahih Muslim says that if a woman uses incense fragrance, she should not come with us for the Isha prayer. So, the instruction that the Prophet ﷺ gave was that women should not come to Isha prayer wearing perfume.
Now regarding the hadith that says a woman who applies perfume and walks among people so that they smell it is like an immoral woman — the meaning of that hadith is different.
That hadith refers to a woman who deliberately applies perfume with the intention of attracting attention, so that men will notice her as she walks past.
There are different types of fragrances. Some are mild and light, while others are very strong and striking.
If women apply perfume, they may apply mild fragrances.
The prohibition of perfume applies particularly when coming to Isha prayer, but there is another category of perfume which is meant specifically to attract attention. If someone applies perfume with the intention that others should turn and look at them, that is the situation addressed by the hadith that describes such behavior as immoral.
During the time of the Prophet ﷺ there was actually a distinction between men’s perfumes and women’s perfumes. There is a hadith in Sahih Muslim where the Prophet ﷺ said that when you come for Jumu‘ah prayer, you should apply perfume. If you do not have perfume, then you may even apply women’s fragrance.
This narration appears in Sahih Muslim (hadith number 1537).
From this it becomes clear that women’s perfumes were lighter fragrances.
Women would apply mild fragrances such as incense smoke or scented smoke like bakhoor or sambrani, allowing the smoke to pass through their hair and clothing so that a mild scent remained.
Such fragrance would only be noticeable if someone came very close. From a distance it would not spread strongly.
Thus, women’s fragrances at that time were mild — noticeable only when someone was near, not something that spreads widely and attracts attention from afar.
The instruction therefore was that such fragrance should not be worn when coming for Isha prayer.
If a woman wishes, she may pray at home at night. After all, attending the mosque for women is not obligatory.
