The Prophetic Guidance on Perfumes

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speech is blessed by sending blessings upon the Prophet how could
Madeenah not have been blessed during his days, while he inhabited it;
he, who refreshed its breeze, perfumed itsatmosphere and renewed its
fragrance; whose scent preceded him to wherever he went and remained
after he had left. It washe who was the one by whom Taybah (another
name for Madeenah) was blessed in his life,and still is after his
death.
Here is Anas ibn Maalik saying, "I have never smelled any ambergris,
musk nor anything [that is] more pleasant than the smell of the
Messenger of Allaah ." Small wonder, for Umm Sulaym would collect the
sweat of the Prophet in a flask and use it as a perfume. In an
authentic narration, the Prophet had a siesta in their house (that of
Umm Sulaym ), and he sweated; so she brought a bottle and kept
extracting his sweat into her bottle. The Prophet then awakened and
asked her: "What are you doing, O Umm Sulaym?" She answered, "This is
your sweat, we take it as perfume to us, and it is from the best
perfumes." By Allaah, Umm Sulaym was truthful; for this was indeed the
best of perfumes.
Despite the scent that was in his honored body, the Prophet would
perfume himself with the best perfume he could find. 'Aa'ishah also
perfumed him with the best of she could find, to the extent that the
shine of perfume was seen in his hair and beard.
The life of the beloved Prophet was between two kinds of perfume; a
moral perfume, whichhe carried in his heart and that flowed in his
blood, which was the perfume of the revelation, the Sunnah (Prophetic
tradition) and the Da'wah (call) to worshipping Allaah The
Almighty.The second was a tangible perfume that emanated from his body
and clothes. One wonders: where are those who are morally and tangibly
perfumed today? Where are those who are outwardly and inwardly, and
secretly and openly imitators andfollowers of our beloved Prophet ?
The best of the creatures of Allaah The Almighty on earth is Prophet
Muhammad whom Allaah The Almighty made an example and guide to people.
Thus, he is an excellent role-model in all things, even in the
simplest matters, and he taught those around him without affectation.
Among the things the Companions learnt from the Prophet and acted upon
was his care for perfume. He always had a fragrant smell about him,
which corresponded with his pleasant speech, that the companion may
associate and be pleased with him, the straying be guided by him, the
ignorant and the seeker of knowledge learn from him, and the seeker of
guidance be enlightened by him.
Why would the Prophet not perfume himself, when perfume was among the
beloved things tohim? Wasn't he the one who said: "Endeared to me of
your worldly life [are] women and perfume." The Prophet was good and
liked what was good, and he paid special care to perfume. He had a
vessel from which he perfumed himself, and it is said that it was a
mixed perfume combined from several materials. It had a strong smell
to the extent that if the Prophet passed by a road in Madeenah, people
would say,"The Prophet passed from here", due to the effect of his
perfume.
Although he was busy with the affairs of Muslims and in Jihaad
(struggle) with word and sword, the Prophet did not neglect to speak
about perfume and what is the best of it. He said: "The best perfume
is musk." His care to be perfumed was not in vain, but as he was
commanded to perform Da'wah (calling to Islam), one of his mainduties
was to seek to impress himself in the hearts of people and to be
pleasing and appealing in their eyes. This was so that they would not
despise him and turn away from him and the truth he came with, and is
very important for every scholar who concerns himself with conveying
the truth to people.
Another cause of the Prophet's laying importance on perfume may be
that he sat with the angels and communicated with Allaah The Almighty
several times in prayer. This was all the more reason for him to
perfume himself, as it was revealed to him(what means): {O children of
Aadam, take your adornment at every masjid, and eat and drink, but be
not excessive. Indeed, He likes not those who commit excess.} [Quran
7:31]

The origin of April Fools’ day

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theories have been put forward about how the tradition began.
Unfortunately, none of them are conclusive. Thus, the origin of the
"custom of making April fools" remains as much a mystery to us as it
was back in 1708 CE.
The most popular theory about the origin of April Fools' Day involves
the French calendar reform of the sixteenth century. The theory goes
like this: In 1564 CE France reformed its calendar, moving the start
of the year fromthe end of March to January 1. Those who failed to
keep up withthe change, and stubbornly clungto the old calendar system
and continued to celebrate the New Year during the week that fell
between March 25 and April 1, had jokes played on them. Pranksters
would surreptitiously stick paper fish to their backs. The victims of
this prank were thus called 'poisson d'Avril', or April fish—which, to
this day, remains the French term for AprilFools' Day — and so the
tradition was born.
Others say that this started a long time before that, and that it was
initiated during the ancient ages as a part of polytheistic
celebrations on a set date on the beginning of the spring season. Yet
others say that fishing did not yield any catch in the first days of
the spring season and thus this was innovated as a newpractice on the
first of April.
According to legend, the Duke of Lorraine and his wife were imprisoned
at Nantes. They escaped on April 1, 1632 CE by disguising themselves
as peasants and walking through the front gate. Someone noticed them
escaping and told the guards. But the guards believed the warning to
be a " poisson d'Avril " (or April Fools' Day joke) and laughed at it,
thus allowing the Duke and his wife to escape.
"April's fish" was also said to be due to the movement of the sun from
Pisces (February 20- March 20) to the next sign. Some theories believe
that it was given this name after altering the word'passion' (as a
symbol for the torture that Jesus suffered) to 'poisson d'Avr il '.
British folklore links April Fools' Day to the town of Gotham, the
legendary town of fools located in Nottinghamshire. According tothe
legend, it was a tradition in the 13th century for any road that the
King placed his foot upon to become public property. So when the
citizens of Gotham heard that King John planned to travel through
their town, they refused him entry, not wishing tolose their main
road. When the King heard this, he sent soldiers to the town. But when
the soldiers arrived in Gotham, they found the town full of lunatics
engaged in foolish activities such as drowning fish or attempting to
cage birds in roofless fences. Their foolery was all an act, but the
King fell for the ruse and declared the town too foolish to warrant
punishment. Ever since then, according to legend, April Fools' Day has
commemorated their trickery.
The first lie on this occasion was recorded in a British magazine. The
April 2, 1698 CE edition of Dawks's News-Letter (a British newspaper)
reported that, "Yesterday being the first of April,several persons
were sent to the Tower Ditch to see the Lions washed." Sending
gullible victimsto the Tower of London to see the "washing of the
lions" (a non-existent ceremony) was a popular prank. It became
traditional for this prank to be played on April Fools' Day. Examples
of it occur as late as themid-nineteenth century In the eighteenth
century written references to April Fools' Day became numerous and
appeared throughout Europe.
One of the most famous incidentsthat happened in Europe on April 1,
was when the English newspaper, The Evening Star , announced in March
1746 CE that on the following day – April 1 st – there would be an
parade of donkeys in Islington, in England. The people rushed to see
these animals and there was a huge crowd. They continued waiting and
when they got tired of waiting, they asked about when the parade would
be held. They did not find anything, and then they finally realized
that they had come to make an exhibition of themselves, as if they
were the donkeys!
The above was just to show the history of this event. However, it is
not important to know what isits real source or how it originated.
What matters to us is the ruling of lying on this day.
This practice certainly never existed in the bright eras of
Islamduring which the Muslims highly cherished the rulings of Islam
and adhered to them as closely as they could. This event was certainly
not initiated by the Muslims, but rather, by their enemies.
The unfortunate part is that many Muslims have made it a common
practice for them to lie to their wives, friends or relativesand cause
them great sorrow and frighten them by lying on this day, claiming
that it is only a joke. Many a times, people have died as a result of
some of these lies due to heart attacks or become paralyzed from the
impact of the lie on them. Some people have even divorced their wives
and others have uttered such lies about a man's wife that he went and
killed her.
There is no end to such tragic stories associated with this day. The
only way one can restrain him/herself from falling in this evil
practice is by remembering the Islamic ruling which prohibitslying
even in jest.

Dought & clear, - Using elastic hair ties that have coloured hairs.

There are hair ties that are made of elastic and contain coloured
hairs or hair that is all the same colour. What is the ruling on that?
Praise be to Allah.
It is not permissible for awoman to attach other hair to her hair
(hair extensions) because of the warning against hairextensions.
Al-Bukhaari (5937) and Muslim (2122) narrated from Ibn 'Umar (may
Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) said: "May Allah curse the one who adds
hair extensions and the one who has them added, the one who does
tattoos and the onewho has them done."
Muslim (2126) narrated that Jaabir ibn 'Abdullah (may Allah be pleased
with him) said: The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
forbade women to attach anything to their head.
This is general in meaning and applies to anything that may be
attached to the head. Hence some of the scholars are of the view that
it is haraam to attach string, fabric and the like to the hair; others
are of the opinion that what is haraam is attaching hair to it.
An-Nawawi said in SharhMuslim: al-Qaadi 'Iyaad said: The scholars
differed concerning this issue. Maalik, at-Tabari and many or most of
the scholars said that attaching anything is prohibited, whether it is
hair, wool, or cloth. Theyquoted as evidence for that the hadeeth of
Jaabir which was narrated by Muslim, according to which the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade women to attach
anything to their head.
Al-Layth ibn Sa'd said: The prohibition applies specifically to
attaching hair; there is nothing wrong with attaching wool, cloth and
so on. Others said: All of that is permissible. This is narrated from
'Aa'ishah, but it is not narrated from her in a saheeh report; rather
the saheeh report from her is in accordance with theview of the
majority.
Al-Qaadi said: With regard to tying strings ofcoloured silk and the
like which does not resemble hair, that is notprohibited because it
does not come under theheading of attaching hair extensions and it
does not serve the same purpose as hair extensions; rather it is done
for the purpose of beautification and adornment. In the hadeeth it
states that doing hair extensions is a major sin for which the one who
does it is cursed; it also shows thatthe one who helps in doing
something haraam has a share of the burden of sin with the one who
does it, justas the one who helps in an act of obedience has a share
of the reward. End quote.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) issued a fatwa
forbidding doing hair extensions with artificialhair.
He (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: How sound is this hadeeth
and what is meant by it: May Allah curse the one who adds hair
extensions and the one who has them added…"? Does it refer to hair
that is made fromhair that has fallen out (i.e., natural hair), or
hair that is manufactured from fibres and other artificialmaterials?
He (may Allah have mercy on him) replied: The one who does hair
extensions is the one who attaches them to the head of another woman,
and the woman who has them added is the one who asks for that to be
done to her. Attaching hair to the hair of the head (hair extensions)
is haraam; indeed it is a major sin, because the Prophet (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him) cursed the one who does that.
The scholars differed concerning attaching something other than hair
to the hair. Some of them said that it is not permissible, because the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade women to
attach anything to their hair, and the word anything is general in
meaning and includes hair and other things.
Based on that, it is not permissible to attach to the natural hair
artificialhair that resembles the hair created by Allah, may He be
glorified and exalted; rather that is included in this hadeeth.This
hadeeth contains a stern warning to the onewho does that, because the
Messenger (blessingsand peace of Allah be upon him) said: May Allah
curse the one who adds hair extensions andthe one who has them added."
What is meant by being cursed is being excluded and banished far away
from the mercyof Allah. The scholars have stated that every sin for
which Allah, may He be exalted, has decreed the punishment of being
cursed is a major sin.
End quote from Fataawa Noor 'ala ad-Darb.
If the hair ties asked about here include hair that is mixed with the
hair on the head so that it appears to be attachedto it, then it comes
under the heading of hair extensions which are haraam.
And Allah knows best.

Dought & clear, - They stipulated that he should lead a communal du‘aa’ and not place onehand over the other; should he lead them in prayer or leave them?.

I was asked to be an imam and Jumu'ah khateeb in the town in which I
live, but they stipulated that I should recite du'aa' out loud after
every prayer, and that I should not place one hand over the other in
the prayer. Please note that I am the only one who is studying Islamic
sciences in this town. Should I accept or refuse?
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
We appreciate your keenness to do good, follow the Sunnah and avoid
that which is contrary to it; we ask Allah, may He be exalted,to
enable you to do that which pleases Him.
Secondly:
We should differentiate between that on which the scholars are
unanimously agreed that it is a reprehensible innovation (bid'ah) and
that concerning which the scholars have differed, such as about
placing one hand over the other when standingin the prayer, du'aa'
following prayer, Qunoot in Fajr prayer every day, and so on.
So we should be more strict in objecting to the first type (that
concerning which there is scholarly consensus that it is an
innovation); objections to the second type (that concerning which the
scholars differed as to whether it is innovation) should be of a
lesser degree. In fact, one may refrain from objecting altogether and
keep quiet about it because there is such a difference of opinion
concerning it.
See the answer to question no. 70491 for information on
differentiating between issues concerning which the one who acts
differently should be denounced and those concerning which he should
not be denounced.
We should also note thatIslam came to achieve and complete that
whichis in people's best interests and to ward offand reduce that
which isharmful to their best interests.
In the event of a conflict between achieving something good and
warding off something bad, we should see which of the two is
moreimportant and then give it precedence.
Based on that, the Sunnah confirms that the hands should be placed on
the chest when standing in prayer, and the Sunnah is to recite dhikr
audibly following the obligatory prayer; each worshippershould recite
it audibly on his own, then if he offers supplication (du'aa') after
reciting this dhikr, he should do so quietly on his own.
What they are calling you to do is not good and is contrary to the Sunnah.
But should you refuse to lead them in prayer so that you will not end
up doing something that is contrary to the Sunnah and committing this
wrong practice, or should you agree?
The answer to that is as follows:
If your refusing to lead them in prayer will result in their bringing
an imam who is more able than you to make these people follow the
Sunnah and teach it to them, and he will not end up going against the
Sunnah, then you should refuse.
But if your refusal meansthat they will bring an ignorant imam who
will do these actions that arecontrary to the Sunnah and add many more
to them, and he will not teach the people the Sunnah or adhere to it;
rather he may oppose the Sunnah and those who follow it, out of
ignorance on his part or because he is following his whims and
desires, then in that case you should not hesitate to agree to be an
imam for these people, even if they make you do these actions that are
contraryto the Sunnah, because that will lead to less negative
consequences than if you refuse.
We stated above that Islam came to ward off and reduce wrong
practices. Moreover, if you develop a close connection with them later
on, then you can try to teach them the Sunnah and lead them towards it
little by little.
You can also tell them about the views of some scholars whom they
respect who spoke against what you want to denounce of innovations, so
long as you do that gradually so as not to alienate the people.
There follow the views of some scholars about the imam refraining from
some things that he thinks are Sunnah and mustahabb, so as to soften
the hearts of the congregation.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
If the imam thinks that something is mustahabb and the congregation
does not think that it is mustahabb, and he refrains from doing it for
the sake of unity andharmony, then he has done something good. An
example of that is Witr, concerning which there are three scholarly
opinions, one of which is that it can only be three continuous
rak'ahs, like Maghrib, as is the view of some of the Iraqi scholars.
The second view is that it can only be one rak'ah that is prayed
separatelyfrom whatever comes before it, as is the view of some of the
Hijazi scholars. The third view is that both are permissible, as is
the prevalent view of the Shaafa'i madhhab, Ahmad and others, and this
is the correct view, however they favoured the view that it should be
separate from what comes before it. If the imam thinks that it should
be separate but the congregation favours the view that Witr prayer
should be done like Maghrib, and he goes along with that so as to
soften their hearts, then he has donewell, as the Prophet (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him) said to 'Aa'ishah: "Were it notthat
your people have only recently left Jaahiliyyah behind, I would have
demolished (and rebuilt) the Ka'bah and made its door level with the
ground, and I would have given it two doors, one through which the
people could enter and one through which they could exit." But he
refrained from doing that which was better in his view lest he
alienate the people.
Similarly, if a man thinksthat the Basmalah ("Bismillah ir-Rahmaan
ir-Raheem") should be recited out loud but he is leading in prayer
people who do not thinkthat doing so is mustahabb, or vice versa, and
he goes alongwith them, then he has done well. End quote.
Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 22/268
Shaykh 'Abd al-'Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allah havemercy on him) was asked:
Is it permissible to refrain from saying Ameen out loud in the prayer
and not to raise the hands?
He replied:
Yes, if he is among people who do not raise their hands or do not
sayAmeen out loud, then it is better not to do that, so as to soften
their hearts and be able to callthem to what is good, and so that he
can teach them and guide them, and so that he will be able to teach
them the right way. That is because if he differs from them they will
find that objectionable, because they think that this is the Islamic
way, and they think that not raising the hands, apart from the opening
takbeer, is the Islamic way, and they have beenused to that all their
lives. The same applies to not saying Ameen out loud, which is the
subject of a well-known difference of opinion among the scholars; some
of them say that it should be said out loud and some of them say that
Ameen should not be said out loud. According to the hadeeth, the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) raised his voice,
and according to other hadeeths he said it quietly. Even though the
correct view is that Ameen should be said out loud and it is something
mustahabb, and he will be omitting something mustahabb inthis case,
the believer should not do somethingmustahabb if it will lead to
division, dispute and fitnah; rather the believer should refrain from
doing that which ismustahabb in that case. For the one who is calling
people to Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, if his refraining
from something will serve a greater interest, then he should do so. An
example of that is when the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) refrained from demolishing the Ka'bah and rebuilding it on
the foundations of Ibraaheem. He said: "Quraysh have only recently
left kufr behind," and it is for that reason that he left itas it was
and did not change it, in the public interest. End quote.
Fataawa Shaykh Ibn Baaz, 29/274, 275
And Allah knows best.