"A woman who wears perfume and goes near men is an adulterer." Is this statement a hadith? If it is a hadith, what is the explanation of it?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Abu Musa narrates: "The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,

“Every eye commits adultery; and when a woman uses perfume and passes by a gathering of men, she gets sins as if she has committed fornication if those men benefit from that smell and like it.” (see Tirmidhi, Adab 35; Abu Dawud, Tarajjul 7; Nasai, Zinah 35)

The explanation of the hadith:

1. When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) calls every eye an adulterer, he likens looking at a non-mahram woman lustfully to committing fornication and prohibits it. For, looking at haram is the first step to the sin of fornication. When our religion renders a deed haram, it renders the causes leading to it haram too.

We see the example of rendering haram of lustful look in the hadith above.

The verses order believing men and women to protect their eyes from haram by addressing them separately. (an-Nur,24/30-31)

2. Women’s going near men or passing by them by wearing perfume is described a kind of fornication. For, it will provoke the lust of men and cause them to look at her. Such a lustful look is the fornication of the eye.

Since a woman who wears perfume causes this bad deed, she is described as “adulterer”.

(see Prof. Dr. İbrahim Canan, Kütüb-ü Sitte Translation and Explanation)

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