Some men came to the Prophet ﷺ to give him their pledge of allegiance. Among them was a man whose hand bore traces of khaluq perfume. The Prophet kept accepting the pledges of the others while delaying his, then said, "The perfume suited to men is one whose scent is apparent and whose color is hidden, and the perfume suited to women is one whose color is apparent and whose scent is hidden."
أتى النبي ﷺ قوم يبايعونه، وفيهم رجل في يده أثر خلوق، فلم يزل يبايعهم، ويؤخره، ثم قال: إن طيب الرجال ما ظهر ريحه وخفي لونه، وطيب النساء ما ظهر لونه وخفي ريحه.
Bazzar narrated it in Kashf Astar (2989), and Bayhaqi in Shuab (7424), both from the hadith of Saeed bin Sulayman Wasiti, who said, Ismail bin Zakariya narrated to us, from Asim, from Anas, and he related it. Its chain is hasan, on account of Ismail bin Zakariya Khalqani, who is disputed but whose hadith is hasan when his error is not apparent, and he is among the narrators found in the six major collections.Of similar meaning is what is reported from Abu Hurairah, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The perfume of men is that whose scent is apparent and whose color is hidden, and the perfume of women is that whose color is apparent and whose scent is hidden." Tirmidhi narrated it (2787) from Ali bin Hajar, who said, Ismail bin Ibrahim informed us, from Jareeri, from Abu Nadra, from Tufawi, from Abu Hurairah, and he related it.Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan hadith, except that we do not know Tufawi except through this hadith, and we do not know his name. The hadith of Ismail bin Ibrahim is more complete and longer." Abu Dawud also narrated it (2174) in a long hadith, and Nasai (5118), both through other routes from Jareeri with his chain. See the detailed sourcing of this in the Book of Marriage, chapter, a woman should not touch another woman's skin. Tufawi is unknown, as Tirmidhi said.Tirmidhi also narrated it before this from Sufyan, from Jareeri, from Abu Nadra, from a man, from Abu Hurairah, and he related it. The unnamed man is Tufawi.Of similar meaning also is what is reported from Imran bin Husayn, who said, the Prophet ﷺ said to me, "The best perfume of men is that whose scent is apparent and whose color is hidden, and the best perfume of women is that whose color is apparent and whose scent is hidden." Tirmidhi narrated it (2788), and Abu Dawud (4048), and Ahmad (19975), and Hakim (4/191), all from the hadith of Saeed bin Abu Aruba, from Qatada, from Hasan Basri, from Imran bin Husayn, and he related it.Tirmidhi said, "Hasan, unusual through this route." Abu Dawud said, "Saeed said, I think he said, they understood his statement about the perfume of women to mean when she goes out, but when she is with her husband she may perfume herself with whatever she wishes."I say, in its chain is Hasan Basri, who conceals his sources, and he did not hear from Imran bin Husayn. However, Hakim said, "This is a sahih hadith which the two of them did not include, for our teachers, although they differ over whether Hasan heard from Imran bin Husayn, most of them hold that he did hear from him." So he said. But the more correct view is that he did not hear from him.