The Holy City of Medina

Scents of Space: Early Islamic Pilgrimage, Perfume, and Paradise

“…44 Similarly, when he led the ḥaǧǧ in 91/710, ʿAbd al-Malik's son and caliphal successor al-Walīd (r. 86/705-96/715) personally delivered the Mosque's perfume and censer alongside the kiswa, which was again hung in the Mosque for one day before being transferred to Mecca.45 As they transformed Medina into a "holy city" and the Prophet's Mosque into a pilgrimage destination, these caliphs brought their patronage and authority to bear upon the Mosque, manifested in both the kiswa's presence there, and their gifts of scent for the space during the ḥaǧǧ season. 46 Patronage This story exposes clearly the politics of perfume at early Islamic sacred spaces. Ibrāhīm-a servant of the Umayyad governor of Medina during that dynasty's greatest patronage of the Prophet's Mosque-advises a servant of the Abbasid regime to go even further in perfuming this location than its previous patrons had done.50 Much like the competition between the Umayyad and Zubayrid houses, we see here an explicit wish to compete with a rival dynasty in providing grand olfactory patronage to a pilgrimage place: an act that will "surpass those who come after you, by doing what those who came before you did not."…”