Answered by Shaykh Yūsuf Badāt
Question:
Are perfumes containing alcohol allowed to be used on body/clothes, especially during ṣalāh (formal ritual prayer)?
Answer:
In the Name of God, Most Merciful, Most Kind
Jazāk Allāh Khayr/ Thank you for your question.
Perfumes containing various forms of alcohol can be applied, since the alcohol is synthetic. There is no impurity in such perfumes.
The great contemporary jurist, Shaykh Muftī Khālid Saifullāh Al-Raḥmānī writes that other than the nectar of grapes and dates, any other plant or chemical based alcohols, in minute amounts are allowable and if anything are considered negligible impurity (najāsah khafīfah). Prayer is valid if perfume sprays containing such alcohols are applied to clothes in small amounts [that do not reach more than one fourth of a limb]. – (See: Jadīd Fiqhī Masāil Li Al-Raḥmānī)
The Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings upon him) loved good smells and perfume (ʿitr). – (See: Musnad Aḥmad, Nasaʾi)
“God is pleasant and loves the pleasant.” – (Al-Bazzār)
Some contemporary jurists advise to apply the perfume at a distance instead of directly applying to the body or clothes, so that the alcohol evaporates into the air, before the perfume reaches the body or clothing.
And Allāh Knows Best