What is the criteria for the prohibited perfume for a pilgrim in ihram and a woman in 'iddah, and what can be accurately called perfume?
Perfume is what is used to improve the scent of the body and clothes, and it includes manufactured perfumes and fragrant plants.
Jurists have defined it as "fragrance, which is anything with a pleasant smell, such as musk, camphor, rose, jasmine, turmeric, and saffron."
Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen holds that perfume is what is customarily prepared for perfuming, excluding things like apples and mint, which have a pleasant smell but are not used for perfuming.
The use of perfume is prohibited for those in a state of ihram and for women in their iddah (waiting period). A woman in her iddah is prohibited from touching perfume, and a person in ihram is prohibited from wearing clothes that have been touched by saffron, turmeric, or other types of perfume.
For perfume to be prohibited, its primary purpose must be for perfuming.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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