On my  last trip  to Damascus I noticed that they really like to put roses in their food… For example, they would put dried rose petals on top of traditional sweets. They also add “Damascus Rose” to the famous Middle Eastern herbal tea known as Zuhoorat, which is a mixture of medicinal and aromatic flowers. But best of all, they make a delicious rose petal jam! Yes, it’s a jam made out of Damascus rose petals, and it is delicious! I brought a jar back with me to Amman, and discovered that there is a magical chemistry that goes on when you combine it with butter that makes your taste buds dance with joy.

Before realizing that you can actually eat roses, I only knew about Rose Water. In the Muslim world, there are two very famous flower-essence waters  that we use in our food: Flower Water (also known as Orange Blossom Water) is a very popular drink in the Middle East, while Rose Water is used as an ingredient in desserts (and as a face and skin cleanser for women). These waters are made from the distilled essential oils of flowers, and are thought to have great benefits, most notably their calming effect on the mind.

But beside that calming effect, it seems that Muslims have for a very  long time attached to Roses a more spiritual significance. For example, when Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (Saladin) recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders, he had the Dome of the Rock, the Aqsa Mosque, and the Mosque of Umar washed and purified with Rose Water brought from Damascus. Historians tell us that more than 500 camels were needed to bring in enough Rose Water to do the job, and some princes from Saladin’s own family were more than eager to scrub the floors, walls, and ceilings of these holy places with their own hands. Another great ruler, the Mamluk king Baybars, had the Kaaba itself washed with Rose Water!

But what is the secret behind this great importance given to the rose?

According to Shaykh Hakim Chishti, author of The Book of Sufi Healing, the rose -”the Mother of Scents and the Queen of the Garden”-  is a very important symbol in Muslim culture.

“The symbol of Sufism itself is the rose….The placement of the rare and refined beauty and sweetness of the rose blossoms - at the end of a long, stern stem full of prickly thorns- aptly symbolizes the mystic path to Allah the Almighty.”

It is well known that the Prophet Muhammad’s perspiration- salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam - smelled sweeter than any scent known to man. Umm Sulaym used to collect his drops of perspiration as he slept and use it as a perfume. Shaykh Chishti says that “the reason these droplets were of such elegance is that they contained the essence of his soul.” Salla Allahu alaa sayyidna Muhammad!

And it seems that there is a  trace of this essence of the soul of the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam in the rose. In the chapter of the book entitled “The Soul of the Rose“, Shaykh Chishti says,

The 124,000 prophets Allah has sent to the world with His Guidance had different bodies but the same soul…. Allah said that the first thing He created in the universe was the soul of prophecy. He said that He made it from the absolute of His own light, called nur. Allah further stated that if He had not created this soul of prophecy,  He would not have created the universe.

After Allah the Almighty made this magnificent soul, it was of such luminous nature and so burning with light that it began to shed drops of perspiration. And from this sweat of the soul of prophecy, Allah made the soul of the rose. This is the actual origin of the art and science of aromatherapy.

If you want to know more about the benefits of roses and how they are used by Muslim healers and spiritual masters, and how they are “charged” with the healing power of the Qur’an, then I suggest you read that beautiful chapter in The Book  of Sufi Healing. But until then, here are three simple ways to enjoy the benefits of the rose (though only the second is probably strong enough to really have an effect without constant use):

1) Get Rose Jam from Damascus.

2) Use rose essential oils. Shaykh Chishti says that it is “the most superior of all scents in the floral realm. Rose works simultaneously on the physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies, purifying and uplifting all three.”

3) Make this delicious drink that I often enjoy, whose recipe I took from Serving the Guest: A Sufi Cookbook & Art Gallery,

Rose Milk.

[Ingredients:]

4 cups milk

3 tbsp. honey

2 tbsp. rosewater

Cinnamon

[Preparation:]

In a small, heavy pot, gently warm the milk until it is a comfortable drinking temperature. Stir in the honey and rosewater. Pour into cups and garnish with a light dusting of cinnamon.

So purify your body and soul with the essence of the Rose as Salah al-Din purified with it the Aqsa Mosque.  Let the essence of the rose help you on the spiritual path - that long and difficult path that is full of thorns - until you reach the end of the stem and find Beauty. And what else do we seek on this path, if not Eternal Beauty?