The development of Western perfumery was strongly contributed by the Islamic cultures. They contributed in extracting the perfumes (using the method of steam distillation) and coming up with newer varieties by introducing newer raw materials. Islamic people including the Persians and the Arabs were mostly traders who had an easy access to varieties of spices, herbs, floras and other fragrance emitting substances. Several exotic fragrance emitting herbs (like the jasmine) and others were cultivated by them outside their natives because of the climatic conditions.

The use of perfumes has been considered religious. According to the Great Muhammad,

    “The taking of a bath on Friday is compulsory for every male Muslim who has attained the age of puberty and (also) the cleaning of his teeth with Miswaak (type of twig used as a toothbrush), and the using of perfume if it is available. (Recorded in Sahih Bukhari).”

Various Contributions

    * Two talented Arabic Chemists; Al-Kindi (Alkindus, born 801, Iraq) and J?bir ibn Hayy?n (Geber, born 722, Iraq) came up with the establishment of the perfumery industry out of their hard work.
          o The distillation, filtration and evaporation methods were developed by Jabir. He also enabled the extraction and collection of the odor from the plants into a vapor. This vapor could be later converted into oil or water.
          o But Al-Kindi was the original founder of the perfumery industry. He was the one who went through several extensive research works combining various sources to produce a variety of scented products. He came up with a variety of recipes for the perfume, cosmetic and the pharmacy industry.
    * Avicenna, a famous Persian (Muslim) doctor and chemist was the first to extract the fragrance oils from the flowers. He was also called Ibn Sina, who used various distillation procedures to extract the essential oils. He used rose for his first successful experimentation. Prior to his experiments, petals or crushed herbs were used with oil as perfumes. Then rose water gained immense popularity.

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