Is It Hygienic to Use One’s Hand to Clean the Private Parts?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz A. Khan

Question: I had a question in regards to ghusl. Can I wet pieces of toilet paper with water to cleanse (one’s private parts) as I feel this is more hygienic than using one’s hand and water?

Answer: Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah,

I pray this finds you in the best of health and states. Please pardon me for the undue delay in response.

A condition for the validity of ghusl is washing every part of the body, ‘washing’ meaning causing water to flow over the area such that it drips, with a minimum of two drops. It is an emphasized sunna to rub each limb, ‘rubbing’ meaning to run one’s hand or the like over each washed limb. [Maraqi al-Falah; Radd al-Muhtar]

As for legality, if at least two drops of water reached the body part in question from the method you describe, then the ghusl would be valid. However, this would entail a departure from the Noble Sunna, which is to use one’s hand and wash one’s body. Leaving the sunna is highly blameworthy.

Washing one’s body with one’s hands and water is perfectly hygienic. Everything in the Noble Sunna represents the perfection of purity, outward and inward. Moreover, generations of Muslims have been doing ghusl in this way, and by Allah’s grace, have normal lifespans and healthy lives overall.

And Allah knows best.
wassalam
Faraz

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani