the hadith. The general public report it (1) as: “Whoever is offered perfume (2) should not refuse it” (3), but this does not convey the same meaning (4). Accepting a fragrant herb entails no sense of indebtedness, and people customarily offer it freely, unlike musk, ambergris, ghāliyah (a blended perfume), and similar fragrances. Nevertheless, an authentic report concerning him is narrated by ‘Azrah (5) ibn Thābit from Thumāmah, who said: Anas would not refuse perfume, and (6) Anas said: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would not refuse perfume” (7).
As for the hadith that Ibn ‘Umar traced back to the Prophet, “Three things should not be refused: cushions, perfume (8), and milk,” it is a defective hadith, narrated by al-Tirmidhī, who mentioned its defect. I do not now recall what he said about it, except that it is narrated by ‘Abd Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Jundab, from his father, from Ibn ‘Umar (9).
(1) Manuscript k reads tarwīhi (“transmits it”). Manuscripts mb and n read “and some transmit it”; this latter reading is indicated in the margin of ʿ.
(2) The passage “from him in Sahīh Muslim … perfume” is omitted from ʿ; someone supplied it in the margin.
(3) This wording is not confined to the general public; it is also transmitted by Ahmad (8263), Abū Dāwūd (4172), al-Nasā’ī (5259), and Ibn Hibbān (5109).
(4) Manuscript k reads maʿnāhu (“its meaning”). This was also the original reading in ʿ, subsequently altered to the reading adopted here.
(5) Manuscripts k, ʿ, and mb read “ʿUrwa,” a scribal misreading.
(6) The passage “He said: Anas would not refuse perfume, and” is omitted from n and all printed editions except the Indian edition.
(7) Transmitted by al-Bukhārī (2582, 5929), whose wording is: “He said: Anas stated that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, …” Al-Tirmidhī (2789) transmits it with the author’s wording.
(8) This refers to perfume, as al-Tirmidhī states in al-Jāmiʿ.
(9) Transmitted by al-Tirmidhī in al-Shamā’il (218) and al-Jāmiʿ (2790), who said: “A gharīb hadith.” Also transmitted by al-Tabarānī (12:336) and al-Bayhaqī in Shuʿab al-Īmān (5677). Its transmission hinges on ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Jundab al-Hudhalī, who has some weakness and whose narration of this report is uncorroborated. Abū Hātim said in his son’s al-ʿIlal (2436): “This is a munkar (rejected) hadith.”