Al-Ghaliyah

“He stood at the door of the Emir’s court knowing the prominent court officials will enter and the huge wooden doors would be swung open once again, every interval stretched for what seemed like forever. When the doors would open – he would inhale -thirstily flooding his lungs and olfactory senses with delight after delight, grafting the beguiling scent into his very core before the doors would close once again….”

Al-Zamakhsharī the great polymath narrates in his Rabīʿ al-Abrār wa Fususal-Akhbār;

ʿAbdullāh bin Jaʿfar gave Muʿāwiyah (RA) a glass bottle (qārūrah) of perfume; and Muʿāwiyah questioned how much he had spent on it.

Jaʿfar replied “A hefty sum (māl),”

Muʿāwiyah said, “This is valuable (Ghāliyah)”

And that is how the name Al Ghāliyah was born – the valuable, the dear, the grand.

What was inside that bottle? Not many know, but countless have claimed to have the formula.

The blending of Al-Ghāliyah was an art, and the ʿAbbāsid caliphs excelled in it. Perfumers who possessed exceptional skills in the blending of the Emir’s favourite scents would be substantially rewarded and kept in favour, and those who were the most skilled with Al-Ghāliyah were the most highly regarded of – almost an unofficial recognition, a royal proclamation of the skill and talent of the perfumer.

The ingredients of this wonder of wonders had been kept shrouded within a family for generations – we were lucky to have access to it. Today, you are looking at the recreation of this gem using the exact formula the great perfumers of the past had composed.

6 long years to gather the perfect raw ingredients – we travelled from New Zealand to the Himalayas, India, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, this was just the beginning of the journey. Preparing the ingredients took a number of months, each of the ingredients needing to be composed to a precise consistency, in a perfect state of balance before they could carefully be infused together.

When you wear Al-Ghāliyah you appreciate why it was declared ‘the most valuable of all valuables, the precious and dear’. Experience a sense of the exquisite scents that drifted in the notable courts of the Emirs of far-flung times.

Al-Ghāliyah opens with animalic musk wrapped in sweet floral spices transcending into wild oceanic waves splashing at the shores of fine musky beaches. For the dry down imagine lying down by the sea in a bed of rose-soaked musk, not animalic but sweet musk, the grazing breeze around you infused with silk smooth oudh woods.

Al-Ghāliyah puts a kick in your step, straightens your posture, you feel a force of confidence build in you, a boost to your soul, heads turn, this is a scent that turns a bad day into a good evening.

Al Ghāliyah is what our Caliphs, Emirs and Sultans wore and today we bring it to you.

Limited release- ensure you have a piece from the tapestry of olfactory art…live the narrative.