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Europeans were unbearably foul-smelling due to extreme filth. The envoy of Tsarist Russia even described the King of France, Louis XIV, saying: “His smell was worse than that of a wild animal.” One of his mistresses, Madame de Montespan, would soak herself in perfume so she would not have to smell the king. The Russians themselves were described by the traveler Ahmad ibn Fadlan as “the filthiest of God’s creation; they do not cleanse themselves after urinating or defecating.” It is also said that Tsar Peter would urinate against the palace wall in front of people. Queen Isabella I, who killed Muslims in Al-Andalus, reportedly bathed only twice in her life and destroyed the Andalusian bathhouses. King Philip II of Spain allegedly banned bathing altogether in his country, and his daughter Isabella II swore not to change her undergarments until the end of a city’s siege, which lasted three years — and she died because of it. This is about the kings — not to mention the common people. The famous French perfumes for which Paris became known were invented to overpower the stench. Because of this filth, diseases spread among them, and the plague would come and wipe out half or a third of them periodically. The largest European cities such as Paris and London, at most, reached populations of 30 or 40 thousand according to the highest estimates, while Islamic cities exceeded one million inhabitants. The French historian Dribar says: “We Europeans owe the Arabs (meaning the Muslims) for the comforts of our public life. The Muslims taught us how to maintain bodily cleanliness. They were the opposite of Europeans, who did not change their clothes until they became dirty and foul-smelling. We began to imitate them in removing and washing our garments. Muslims wore clean, bright clothes, and some even adorned them with precious stones such as emeralds, rubies, and coral. Cordoba was known to have three hundred bathhouses, while European churches regarded bathing as an act of disbelief and sin.” Credit goes to Muslim travelers and expatriates. The term “bathroom” in English is said to commemorate Muhammad Bath, the Indian Muslim who taught them in his time how to bathe and maintain cleanliness. Source: Memoirs of the writer Sandor Marai Official Spanish documents between 1561 and 1761 We can only say: Praise be to God for the blessing of Islam — and sufficient is it as a blessing.