than to do such a thing.

ʿĀʾishah replied, “I perfumed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when he intended to enter iḥrām; he then went around to his wives, and in the morning he was in iḥrām.”

This wording, related by Muslim, indicates that the Prophet ﷺ applied perfume before visiting his wives (as though he scented himself in advance) (1) so that it would be more pleasant for him and more pleasing to them. After he bathed both to remove the traces of intimacy and in preparation for iḥrām, he applied a second perfume expressly for iḥrām. Al-Tirmidhī (2) and al-Bayhaqī (3) likewise narrate—through ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī al-Zinād, from his father, from Khārijah ibn Zayd ibn Thābit, from his father—that he saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ remove his clothes to begin the talbiyah and then bathe. Al-Tirmidhī graded the report ḥasan gharīb.

Imām Aḥmad (4) relates: “Zakariyyā ibn ʿAdī told us; ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAmr told us; from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl; from ʿUrwah; from ʿĀʾishah—she said: ‘Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ intended to enter iḥrām he would wash his head with khitmi and ushnān (5) and anoint it with a small amount of oil…’” and he mentioned the remainder of the ḥadīth. This route is unique to Aḥmad.

Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī said: “Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah narrated to us, from ʿUthmān ibn ʿUrwah—I heard my father say: I heard ʿĀʾishah say, ‘I perfumed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for his iḥrām and for when he left iḥrām.’ I asked, ‘With what kind of perfume?’ She replied, ‘With the finest of perfumes.’”

Muslim (7) records this report through Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, and al-Bukhārī (8) transmits it through Wuhaib, from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his brother ʿUthmān, from his father ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah with the same wording.