Cleanliness

“When you rise up for prayer, wash your face, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles… ” (Quran, 74: 1-4)

Medieval times are often imagined as being smelly, dark, rough and unclean. Images of open sewers, disease and deformities spring into imagination. In the 10th century Islamic world though, the products found into the bathroom cabinets and hygiene practices could compete with those we have today.

A Muslim’s faith is based on purity and cleanliness, whether on its physical or spiritual form. They are requested to wash immediately before going to, and after getting up from, sleep as well and as before and after eating. They are also ordered to wash five times a day, in ablution or what is known as wudhu, before they carry out their five daily prayers. On Friday, the Muslim holy day, it is essential for Muslims to take a bath before the main congregational prayer.

Back in the 13th century there was an outstanding   mechanical engineering called Al-Jazari who wrote a book called The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices. This book became an invaluable resource for people of different engineering backgrounds, describing mechanical devices, including wudhu machines. Look how elaborate and artistic this piece of ingenious engineering is compared to a tap and sink today. This wudhu machine was mobile and brought in front of guests, appearing like a peacock on a tray. The guests would tap the head and water would ensue in eight short spurts, providing enough water for ablution. This method also conserved water. Some of these robots would have additional action of providing you with a towel.

Muslims wanted to be really clean and not just splash themselves with water, so they made soap by mixing oil (usually olive oil) with al-qali (a salt-like substance – alkaline.) this was then boiled to achieve the right mix, left to harden and used in the hammams or bath houses.

A recently discovered manuscript from the 13th century details more recipes for soap making, for example: take some sesame oil, a sprinkle of potash, alkali and some lime, mix them all together and boil. When cooked, pour the mixture into moulds and leave to set, producing a hard soap.

Soap has arrived in Europe with the crusaders’ return, but hadn’t been fashionable. By the 18th century, though, soap making was an important industry, especially in Syria. Coloured, perfumed toilet soap was produced as well as medicinal soaps.

Apart from scrubbing themselves clean, medieval Muslims also went to great lengths on their appearance, with physicians devoting books to beauty. One such man was Al – Zahrawi, a famous physician and surgeon from Cordoba, southern Spain. He had been inspired by hadiths, or sayings, of the Prophet (pbuh) referring to cleanliness, management of dress, and care of hair and body. So, included in his medical book, called   Al – Tasrif, was a chapter in the nineteenth volume devoted completely to  cosmetics. From a thousand years ago, this was the first original Muslim work in cosmetology, as Al-Zahrawi considered cosmetics a definite branch of medicine, calling it The Medicines of Beauty.

He described the care and beautification of hair, skin, teeth and other parts of the body, all within the boundaries of Islam. Gums were strengthened and teeth bleached, as dentistry was a common practice. He included nasal sprays, mouthwashes and hand creams and even suggested keeping clothes in an incense-filled nook so that they would have a pleasant fragrance for the  wearer.

He elaborated on perfume and talked on perfumed stocks, rolled and pressed in special moulds, a bit like today’s roll-on deodorants. He also named medicated cosmetics like hair-removing sticks, as well as hair dyes that turned blond hair to black and lotions for strengthening kinky or curly hair. The benefits of suntan lotions were also discussed as were their ingredients in detail, all amazing considering this was a thousand years ago.

Al-Kindi also wrote a book on perfumes called Book of the Chemistry of Perfume and   Distillations.  Born in Kufa, now in Iraq, he was best known as a philosopher, but was also a physician, pharmacist, ophthalmologist, physicist, mathematician, geographer, astronomer and chemist,  and like  many men today was involved with music, the manufacture of swords and even the art of cookery.

His book contained more than a hundred recipes for fragrant oils, salves, aromatic waters and substitutes or imitations of costly drugs. Initially, the more affluent in society wore these, until they became accessible for all. His 9th century book also described 107 methods and recipes for perfume-making, and even the perfume-making, equipment needed, like the alembic, which still bears its Arabic name.

The centuries-old tradition of perfume-making, is currently popular with many celebrities, and it was all made possible, by Muslim chemists and their methods of distillation, as they were distilling plants and flowers, making perfumes and substances for therapeutic pharmacy.

These processes and ideas of the Muslims filtered into Europe in various ways, including via merchants and travelers, as gifts, and with the crusaders.

Another important cosmetic in Islam, is henna, known for its beautiful, intricate designs on elegant hands. With the spread of Islam, it reached different parts of the Muslim land, becoming an essential cosmetic ingredient.

Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) and his companions dyed their beards, while women decorated their hands and feet and also dyed their hair like women of today. There are also  particular henna – related traditions within various countries: for instance, Berber tribes of Algeria an Morocco request that a bride apply henna for seven nights before going to her groom.

Modern scientists have found it to be anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-hemorrhagic. It is useful in healing athlete’s foot, fungal skin infections and inflammations. The leaves and seeds of the plant possess medicinal properties, and both act as cooling agents for the head and body. Henna also contains natural ingredients that are vital for hair nourishment.

For Muslims today, too, being clean and looking good holds just as much importance as it did back then. A person using all these thousand-years-old products today would not be out of place in a stylish restaurant in any cosmopolitan city in 21st century.