Islam frequently encourages its followers always to be clean, perfume their clothes, and ensure that their bodies always smell fresh and clean. This is what the Prophet (SAW) used to do, according to the report that Imam Muslim quotes from Anas ibn Malik, who said: “I have never smelt any ambergris or must that had a better scent than the scent of the Messenger of Allah (SAW).”
Many reports describe the cleanliness of the Prophet’s (SAW) clothes and body and describe the sweet smell of his sweat. For example, if he shook hands with a man, his beautiful scent would remain on that man’s hand for the rest of the day, and if he laid his hand on the head of a child, that child would stand out from others by his sweet smell.
Imam Bukhari mentions, in Tarikh al-Kabir, reporting from Jabir, that the Prophet (SAW) never passed through a place but a person who followed him would know that he had been there, from his lingering scent.
Once, the Prophet (SAW) slept in the house of Anas. He sweated, and Umm Anas came to collect the sweat in a bottle. The Prophet (SAW) asked her about what she was doing, and she told him: “This is your sweat; we add it to our perfume and it is the best of perfume.” (Muslim)
How urgent is the Muslim’s need to follow the guidance of this great Messenger in his command to take care of one’s hair and keep it neat following the teaching of Islam? This is reported in the hadith that Abu Dawud quotes from the Abu Hurairah (RA), who said, the Prophet (SAW) said: “Whoever has hair, let him look after it properly.”
According to Islamic teaching, looking after one’s hair involves keeping it clean, combing it, and styling it nicely. The Prophet (SAW) did not like people to leave their hair uncombed and unkempt so that they looked like wild monsters. He described such an ugly appearance as being like Satan. In Al-Muwatta’, Imam Malik reports a hadith with a mursal isnad from Ataa’ ibn Yassar, who said: “The Messenger of Allah was in the mosque when a man with unkempt hair and an untidy beard came in. The Prophet pointed to him as if indicating to him that he should tidy up his hair and beard. The man went and did so, then returned. The Prophet said, ‘Is this not better than that any one of you should come with unkempt hair, looking like the Satan.’”
The Prophet’s likening a man with untidy hair to Satan clearly shows how concerned Islam is with a neat and pleasant appearance, and how opposed it is to scruffiness and ugliness.
The Prophet (SAW) always took note of people’s appearance, and he never saw a scruffily dressed man with untidy hair but he criticized him for his self-neglect. Imam Ahmad and An-Nasa’i report that Jabir (RA) said: “The Messenger of Allah came to visit us, and he saw an unkempt man whose hair was going in all directions, so he said, ‘Could he not find anything with which to calm/set his head?’”
Good appearance
The true Muslim takes good care of his clothes, so you will see him presenting a pleasant appearance, without being extravagant. He is pleasant to look at and meet and does not annoy people with his careless, disheveled appearance. He always checks himself before he goes out to meet people, and he makes himself look good, in moderation, for the Prophet (SAW) used to make himself look good in front of his companions, as well as in front of his family.
In his commentary on the verse: “Say, who was forbidden the beautiful (gift) of Allah, which He has produced for His servants, and the thing, clean and pure, for sustenance?” Al-Qurtubi said: “Makhool reported from Aishah (RA): ‘A group of the companions of the Prophet was waiting at the door for him, so he prepared to go out to meet them. There was a vessel of water in the house, and he peered into it, smoothing his beard and his hair.’ Aishah said: I asked him, ‘O’ Messenger of Allah, even you do this?’ He (SAW) said, ‘Yes, when a man goes out to meet his brothers, let him prepare himself properly, for Allah is beautiful and loves beauty.’”’
The Muslim does all of this by the Islamic ideal of moderation, avoiding the extremes of either exaggeration or negligence. Allah (SWT) said: “Those who, when they spend, are not extravagant and not niggardly, but hold a just (balance) between those extremes.” (Qur’an 25: 67)
(To be continued)
by Muhammad Ali Al-Hashimi