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Fatwa CenterSmelling fragrance unintentionally while in the state of Ihraam
Question
I recently performed Umrah Mash Allah. After my tawaf i noticed that the Kaaba wall was not crowded with people and I touched the Kaaba with my palms and forehead. I stayed this way for 5 minutes or so. During this time i could smell the fragrance of the Kaaba in my nose. Additionally I started crying and could feel snot in my nose. Does holding my palms and forehead against the Kaaba invalidate my umrah or require Dum in reference of the fragrance i could smell while in the state of Ihraam. Regards
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Touching the Ka‘bah with your palms and face does not affect the validity of your ‘Umrah; as regards smelling the fragrance on the wall of the Ka’bah, if you did not intend to smell it, then you are not sinful and you are not required to do anything.
Ibn Qudaamah 
said about a person in a state of Ihraam smelling perfume: “As to smelling it without intending to do so, like the one who is sitting in a perfume shop for a need, or in the market, or in the Ka‘bah to seek blessings from it, or the one who buys perfume for himself or for trading but he does not touch it, then he is not forbidden from it because it is not possible to avoid it, so this is excused contrary to the first case (when one smells it intentionally).”
If you smelled it intentionally while knowing that it is forbidden for a person in a state of Ihraam, and you were aware that you are in a state of Ihraam, then you have committed one of the prohibitions of Ihraam and you are obliged to offer an atonement. The atonement is either to fast three days or feed six poor people or slaughter a sheep that should be distributed among the poor of Makkah. If you did not, however, know the ruling or you did it out of forgetfulness, then you are not required to do anything.
Ibn Qudaamah said: “It is not permissible for him (a person in a state of Ihraam) to intentionally smell perfume, meaning he is not allowed to intend to smell if from others deliberately, like if he sits at the perfume shop in order to smell the perfume, or he enters the Ka‘bah when incense is being burnt in it so that he smells its fragrance, or he carries with him a tiny bag of musk in order to smell it. Imaam Ahmad said: ‘Subhaan Allaah! How could this be permissible?’ However, Ash-Shaafi‘i permitted this, with the exception of the tiny bag which he carries in order to smell it, as the scholars of his School differed about it because in the other cases he smells the perfume from others; so it is as if he did not intend it.
Our opinion is that he smelled the perfume while intending to do so while in a state of Ihraam; so it is forbidden in the same manner if he applies it on himself; that is because what is intended is to smell it and not to touch it. So, if he touches a dry matter that does not stick to his hand, then he is not sinful, but if he lifts it up with a cloth and smells it, then it is an obligation on him to offer an atonement, even if he did not touch it.”
Based on the above, it is clear that if one smells the perfume intentionally while he is in a state of Ihraam, he is obliged to offer an atonement.
Allaah Knows best.
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