Selling perfume to non-Muslim women

1-4-2015 | IslamWeb

Question:

I was planning on starting a business of selling perfumes and perfume related products. However, my customers will be both male and females;Muslims and non-Muslims. If the females wear perfume outside which is discouraged in Islam, will my business be halal or will I be sinning?

---

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.

In principle, it is permissible to sell lawful perfumes unless the seller knows for sure that the buyer will use them for unlawful purposes, like Tabarruj (impermissible exposure of women’s beauty) and the like. This is the ruling that applies to any item that is deemed lawful in itself. But if the seller does not know or only suspects that the buyer will use them for an unlawful purpose, then there is no harm in selling them to that person. This rule also applies in non-Muslim countries according to the most valid opinion of the scholars.

Based on that, there is no harm in selling perfumes in those countries to those whom are not known to use them for unlawful purposes, even if the inhabitants of such countries are mostly disbelievers who are disobedient to Allaah. The Muslim seller bears no sin for selling perfume if the buyer uses it for an unlawful purpose as long as the seller does not know for sure that the buyer would do so.

Allaah Knows best.