Is intending an obligation for the ritual bath (ghusl)?

Question Summary

Is intending an obligation for the ritual bath (ghusl)?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

Intending the performance of ghusl is an emphasized sunna. If one performs the ghusl without an intention, then ghusl is valid, though one will not gain reward for it.  [Tahtawi,Shurunbulali; Hashiyat Maraqi al-Falah]

Note that the place of intention is the heart. It is unnecessary to pronounce one’s intention by tongue or to tell oneself in one’s mind. [Tahtawi,Shurunbulali; Hashiyat Maraqi al-Falah]

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.