Ruling on using perfume mixed with saffron

Saffron is a plant that has many uses. It is a spice that
gives a pleasant flavour to food, and it is also used as a dye for
cloth, giving it a bright yellow colour. It has a pleasant fragrance,
hence it is used as a perfume. 

See: al-Mu‘jam al-Waseet (1/394); al-Mawsoo‘ah al-‘Arabiyyah
al-‘Aalamiyyah: Za‘faraan. 

With regard to using saffron as a perfume – nowadays – it is
used in two ways: 

1.

Men apply it to their bodies, as women do, so that the colour
and fragrance of saffron appear on the body. 

This is haraam, because it comes under the heading of
imitating women and using perfumes that are only for women, and there are
reports which indicate that this is not allowed. 

It was narrated by al-Bukhaari in his Saheeh (5846)
and Muslim in his Saheeh (2101) that Anas said: The Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade men to use saffron. 

At-Tirmidhi said: What is meant by it being disliked for a
man to use saffron is for him to perfume himself with saffron. 

End quote from Sunan at-Tirmidhi (4/418) 

Imam ash-Shaafa‘i said: We do not allow men, under any
circumstances, to use saffron, and if a man does use saffron, we instruct
him to wash the saffron from his body. 

End quote from Ma‘rifat as-Sunan wa’l-Athaar (2/455) 

Ibn Hubayrah said:

From this hadith, we learn that saffron is a perfume for
women, and it is not a perfume for men.

End quote from al-Ifsaah ‘an Ma‘aani as-Sihaah
(5/261) 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him)
said:

With regard to the prohibition on men using saffron, what is
meant is applying it to the body as perfume [the word used in the original
Arabic is derived from a term that refers to a kind of perfume containing
saffron]. Acceptable perfume for men is that in which has a fragrance is
strong and no colour. 

End quote from Sharh ‘Umdat al-Fiqh (p. 383). See also:
Taaj al-‘Uroos (25/260) 

Al-Mubaarakfoori said:

The apparent meaning of his words, “The Messenger of Allah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade men to use saffron” is
that it is prohibited for them to use saffron in all cases, whether in small
or great amounts, on the body or (as a dye) for clothing.

End quote from Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi (8/82). 

It was also narrated from Anas that it is prohibited to wear
clothing dyed with saffron. See the answer to question no.
72878 

2.

The fragrance only is extracted from saffron and mixed with
other oils, as is done by perfumers today. 

There is nothing wrong with that, because the prohibition on
perfuming oneself with saffron only has to do with the colour, not the
fragrance. Fragrance is the main characteristic with regard to perfume for
men, rather than the colour, as it was narrated from ‘Imraan ibn Husayn that
the Prophet of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
“Perfume for men should have a scent and no colour, and perfume for women
should have a colour and no scent.”

Narrated by Abu Dawood (4048); classed as saheeh by
al-Albaani. 

An-Nawawi said: 

That is only because of its colour, not its scent. It is
liked for men’s perfume to have a scent. 

End quote from al-Majmoo‘ Sharh al-Muhadhdhab (1/295) 

In al-Haawi li’l-Fataawi by as-Suyooti (1/74) it says:

An-Nawawi said: The reason for the prohibition [on saffron]
is the colour, not the scent. 

End quote from Kashf al-Mushkil min Hadith as-Saheehayn
(3/271). 

The hadiths which speak of the prohibition on men using
saffron are to be interpreted as referring to applying it to the body for
both colour and scent, as is the custom among women. 

However, these fragrances that are extracted from the saffron
flower (Crocus sativus) and mixed with other oils are no longer described as
saffron in the sense in which the word is used in the hadiths which prohibit
using it. 

And Allah knows best.