I spent a few weeks working in Oman in 2012, and some (if not many or most) women wore a very distinct fragrance. I was later told that it’s the same fragrance that caretakers in Mecca put on the Kabaa’s coverings. So it’s difficult to imagine banning fragrances, or that particular fragrance, but I suppose anything’s possible when someone who’s insane and/or doesn’t know what he’s doing is in charge.
Granted, Oman (or at least, those in power) are Ibadi Muslims, not Sunni, though it’s still a very strict place: women can drive cars and hold jobs, though I believe in practice the latter is greater in civil service than in businesses. But a woman can’t leave the country without permission from a male relative. Evidently women there don’t have to wear a hijab and abaya, but based on my observation all the Omani women wore them (a minority wore a niqab). I suspect it sets them apart as natives, distinguishing themselves from expatriate women who either wear a different covering (e.g. in some color other than black) or who come from places where they aren’t worn at all. (EDIT: Similarly, local men stuck to wearing thawbs, and either a cap or turban, and these have attributes that are distinctly Omani.) Also, I spent all my time there in Muscat, so it may be different elsewhere in the country.
That fragrance stuck with me as much as anything else from my visit. I have to say that, eventually, smelling it every day where I was working became pretty frustrating, because I was away from my wife for several weeks (I brought a small vial home with me). So maybe the IS-types think it’s too enticing, but what an insane way of dealing with temptations.
