Arabian Perfumes / Attars

There are several  perfumes that were introduced by Arabs since ancient times as they were very much found of scents. The   passion of fragrances – boosted by their love of the Prophet of Allah (may the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon Him); since He (SAW) has counted Fragrance among one of  the things of this world that He loved; made them go  almost everywhere, searching for sources of perfumes: they climbed rocks crossed seas and forests searching for more and more exotic fragrances.

The perfume  oils are pure natural oils; also called as Concentrated Perfume Oils.  Besides the body application as perfumes,  Perfume oils  are used in Aromatherapy as well and are used by Arabs and the Muslims in the Middle East, but this use is not limited to a certain part or people of the world anymore but rather Aromatherapy is a known science all over the world and is a fashion now a days.

Sources of some of the Perfumes introduced by Arabs

White Musk

It forms naturally when  certain kinds of granite rocks react under changing weather. This reaction results in yellowish rocks that are called white musk. It is found in some of Indian Mountains.

Cold White Musk

It forms the same way the white musk forms but it is found in some of the cold European Mountains.

Black Musk

The sole source of black musk is the belly button of a female deer.  Interestingly, this deer continues to produce musk in a pouch in its belly while in wild and stops as soon as it is under captivity.  Just a very recent development in this regard is that someone has succeeded in making the female deer produce black musk in captivity (this might bring the prices of black musk down if succefully done on large scale).

Oud /  Agarwood / Aloeswood / Geharoo

The fragrance of Oud forms due to the parasites that live inside the agarwood trees. Agarwood tree is found  in India, Cambodia, Vietnam and other rainforests of Far East Asian countries. By a rough estimate 1 kg of pure Essential Oil of Agarwood  is priced around US$20,000.00 and $30,000.00.  The good Oud is bitter in taste. The bitter the Oud, the finer is its type.

White Amber

It is extracted from the material that the blue whale  spits out when it has troubles with its stomach.  It is found on the coasts of Ethiopia and Scandinavian countries.

Amber spirit

This one is extracted from the amber flowers that are found in forests of India, where it is distilled and mixed with other perfumes like saffron, rose and others.

Saffron

Saffron flowers are found in Iran, Spain and India. Iranian saffron is considered to be the best then comes  the Spanish and  Indian. 

Taif Rose

King of perfumes! It is extracted from the roses spread over Taif region of   Saudi Arabia. It is considered to be one of the best roses on earth due to the gathered climatic circumstances that positively affect the growth of the roses in that area.  Experts in a specific season of the year collect the roses.  Rose Essential Oil is amongst the few most expensive of the world.  Rose Otto and Turkish Rose are other best kinds of roses used in perfume making.

Sandal

Sandalwood is found in some of the forests of southern India, best among them is from Mysore province of Karnataka State.  It is a bit whitish wood, of special, attractive smell. It gives beautiful scents when mixed with other Arabic perfumes like Oud, Amber, Saffron and Musk.  By itself Sandal Oil is very aromatic and is used for therapeutic purposes too.

 
The following information  taken from the catalogue of a famous perfume maker of Middle East may give good idea about Oud to our readers ;

FROM FUNGUS TO FRAGRANCE

Infection is a nice word for agarwood  perfume makers. When a certain kind of tree found in Burma, Cambodia and other far eastern countries are infected with fungus, it marks the beginning of a process, which culminates in some of the world’s finest fragrances. The more severe the infection, the more precious the wood becomes.

This wood, known as Agarwood is extracted from the core of the tree by the skilled staff who undergo serveral yars of rigorous training to undertake this delicate and labourious task. Agarwood is then subjected to an intricate distillation process facilitating the formation of agarwood oil or commonly known as Dehnal oudh, which is the chief ingredient in many popular and expensive eastern and western  perfumes.