Shamm (smelling: its rulings in fasting and pilgrimage, hiring for scent, injury to the sense of smell, and proof of drinking wine)

Shamm, in language, is the sense of the nose and the perception of scents; to smell a thing is to bring it near the nose to draw in its scent. Istinkah is smelling the mouth. The technical sense does not depart from the linguistic one. ¹

Smelling may be obligatory, as when witnesses smell a drunkard's mouth to find the smell of wine, or when scent must be checked in a dispute over a defect. It may be forbidden or disliked, such as a pilgrim in the state of consecration smelling perfume according to those who hold this, or smelling perfume that a foreign woman has used. It may be permitted, as with lawful flowers and perfumes. ^{1 2}

The Hanafis and Malikis hold that a fasting person who lets incense reach his throat, and smells it, breaks his fast, since he can avoid it; if it does not reach his throat he does not break it. Smelling air carrying the scent of roses or the like does not break the fast for the Hanafis, though the Malikis dislike it. The Shafi'is dislike smelling scented plants by day for a fasting person, as a luxury, and recommend avoiding them. The Hanbalis dislike smelling powdered scent, for fear it draws the breath into the throat, but not whole roses, ambergris or unground musk. ²

The Hanafis and Malikis dislike a pilgrim's smelling of perfume. Malik draws no line between masculine and feminine scents in the Mudawwana, while al-Baji forbids the feminine kind. The Shafi'is dislike it, and the sense of their school is that smelling what is perfume, such as rose, musk or camphor, is forbidden. They differ on basil and narcissus: one view allows them, citing 'Uthman's view on basil; the other forbids them. The Hanbalis distinguish: plants that grow wild, such as wormwood, lavender and fruits, may be smelled without a ransom; plants that are grown for scent but not made into perfume, such as Persian basil, carry two views; and plants grown and made into perfume, such as rose, carry a ransom. ^{2 3 4}

The Hanafis and Malikis do not allow hiring a thing such as an apple for its smell; for the Hanafis scent is an unintended benefit, and for the Malikis it has no legal value. The Shafi'is allow hiring musk and sweet herbs for smelling, since the benefit has value. The Hanbalis distinguish: what lasts, such as perfume, sandalwood and pieces of camphor, may be hired for smelling for a period and returned; what perishes quickly, such as roses, violets and Persian basil, may not be hired. ⁴

• Deliberate injury: a man who wounds another and destroys his sense of smell is retaliated against in kind; if the sense is not destroyed, the offender is subjected to what destroys it, through people of experience. If that cannot be done without a further injury, retaliation falls and blood money is due. This is the view of the Malikis and Hanbalis and the sounder view of the Shafi'is; the Hanafis hold that blood money is due because the offender cannot be struck in a way that destroys smell only.
• By mistake, or where retaliation is impossible: full blood money is due if the loss is in the nostrils, since smell is a sense with its own function, as with the other senses. The majority rely on a report that blood money is due for the nostrils; the hadith scholars call it strange, and Ibn Hajar did not find it. ^{4 5}
• If smell is lost in one nostril, half the blood money is due; if it is reduced, a share in proportion where it can be known, otherwise a fair assessment by the judge. A man who claims loss of smell is tested with sharp scents, sweet and foul; if he is pleased by the sweet and displeased by the foul, his word is accepted on oath, otherwise the injured man's word is accepted. The Shafi'is and Hanbalis accept his oath on reduction. If the nose itself is cut off and the smell is lost, there are two blood moneys according to the Shafi'is and Hanbalis, and one according to the Malikis. ⁵

The jurists differ on whether drinking that carries the legal penalty may be proved by smelling wine in the drinker's mouth. The detail belongs to the entry on drinks. ⁵