Sunan Abi Dawud

A man from the companions of the Prophet (ﷺ) travelled to Fudalah ibn Ubayd when he was in Egypt. He came to him and said: I have not come to you to visit you. But you and I heard a tradition from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). I hope you may have some knowledge of it. He asked: What is it? He replied: So and so. He said: Why do I see you dishevelled when you are the ruler of this land? He said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has forbidden us to indulge much in luxury. He said: Why do I see you unshod? He replied: The Prophet (ﷺ) used to command us to go barefoot at times.

The Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) mentioned this word before him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Listen, listen! Wearing old clothes is a part of faith, wearing old clothes is a part of faith. Abu Dawud said: He is Abu Umamah b. Tha'labat al-Ansari

The Prophet (ﷺ) had sikkah with which he perfumed himself.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who has hair should honour it.

Karimah, daughter of Hammam, told that a woman came to Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) and asked her about dyeing with henna. She replied: There is no harm, but I do not like it. My beloved, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), disliked its odour. Abu Dawud said: She meant the colour of hair of the head.

When Hind, daughter of Utbah, said: Prophet of Allah, accept my allegiance, he replied; I shall not accept your allegiance till you make a difference to the palms of your hands; for they look like the paws of a beast of prey.

A woman made a sign from behind a curtain to indicate that she had a letter for the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). The Prophet (ﷺ) closed his hand, saying: I do not know this is a man's or a woman's hand. She said: No, a woman. He said: If you were a woman, you would make a difference to your nails, meaning with henna.

That he heard Mu'awiyah b. Abi Sufyan say during the Hajj when he was on the pulpit and took a lock of hair which was in the hand of the guard, saying: O people of Medina, where are your scholars ? I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbidding such a think as this and said: The children of Isra'il perished when their women practised it.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) cursed the woman who adds some false hair and the woman who asks for it, the woman who tattoos and the woman who asks for it.

Allah has cursed the woman who tattoo and the women who have themselves tattooed, the women who add false hair (according to the version of Muhammad b. Isa) and the women who pluck hairs from their faces (according to the version on 'Uthman). The agreed version then goes: The women who spaces between their teeth for beauty, changing what Allah has created. When a woman of Banu Asad called Umm Ya'qub, who read the Qur'an (according to the version of 'Uthman) heard it, she came to him (according to the agreed version) and said: I have heard that you have cursed the women who tattoo, those have themselves tattooed, those who add false hair (according to the version of Muhammad), those pluck hairs from their faces, and those who make spaces between their teeth (according to the agreed version), for changing what Allah has created (according to the version of 'Uthman). He said: Why should I not curse those whom the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) had cursed and those who were mentioned in Allah's Book ? She said: I have read it from cover to cover and have not found in it. He said: I swear by Allah, if you read it, you would have found it. He then read: What the Apostle has brought you accept, and what he has forbidden refrain from it. She said: I find some of these thing in you wife. He said: Enter (the house) and see. She said: I then entered (the house) and came out. He asked: What did you see ? She said: I did not see (anything). He said: Had it been so, she would have not have been with us. This is according to the version of 'Uthman.

The woman who supplies fake hair and the one who asks for it, the woman who pulls out hair for other people and the woman who depilates herself, the woman who tattoos and the one who has it done when there is no disease to justify it have been cursed. Abu Dawud said: Wasilah means the woman who adds false hair to the hair of women. Mustawsilah means the one who asks for adding the hair to her hair. namisah means a woman who plucks hair from the brow until she makes it thin; mutanammisah means the woman who depilates herself ; washimah is a woman who tattoos in the face with antimony or ink ; mustawshimah is a woman with whom it is done.

There is no harm in fastening the hair with silk or woollen threads. Abu Dawud said: It appears that he held the view that what is prohibited is the adding of the hair of women. Abu Dawud said: Ahmad (b. hanbal) used to say: There is no harm in tying the hair with silk or woollen threads.

If anyone is presented some perfume, he should not return it, for it is a thing of good fragrance and light to bear.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If a woman uses perfume and passes the people so that they may get its odour, she is so-and-so, meaning severe remarks.

A woman met him and he found the odour of perfume in her. Her clothes were fluttering in the air. He said: O maid-servant of the Almighty, are you coming from the mosque? She replied: Yes. He said: For it did you use perfume? She replied: Yes. He said: I heard my beloved AbulQasim (ﷺ) say: The prayer of a woman who uses perfume for this mosque is not accepted until she returns and takes a bath like that of sexual defilement (perfectly). Abu Dawud said: Al-i'sar means dust.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If a woman fumigates herself with perfume, she must not attend the night prayer with us. Ibn Nufayl said: Isha' means night prayer.

I came to my family at night (after a journey) with my hands chapped and they perfumed me with saffron. In the morning I went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and gave him a greeting, but he did not respond to me nor did he welcome me. He said: Go away and wash this off yourself. I then went away and washed it off me. I came to him but there remained a spot of it on me. I give him a greeting, but he did not respond to me nor did he welcome me. He said: Go away and wash it off yourself. I then went away and washed it off me. I then came and gave him a greeting. He responded to me and welcomed me, saying: The angels do not attend the funeral of an unbeliever bringing good to it, nor a man who smears himself with saffron, nor a man who is sexually defiled. He said: He permitted the man who was sexually defiled to perform ablution when he slept, ate or drank.

Ammar said: I used khaluq. The first version is more perfect; it mentioned "taking a bath". Ibn Jurayj said: I said to Umar (a transmitter): They might be wearing ihram (robe of pilgrim)? He replied: No, they were residents.

We heard Abu Musa say: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Allah does not accept the prayer of a man who has any khaluq (perfume composed of saffron) on his body. Abu Dawud said: His grandfathers were Zaid and Ziyad.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade men to use saffron. Isma'il version has: "(forbade) man to use saffron."