To What Extent Must a Woman in Ghusl Wet the Roots of Her Plaits?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

When doing ghusl for a woman and tying her hair in plaits, does she simply pour water 3 times over her head or does she have to rub it in all over which can sometimes take more than three times to gather enough water to spread it into the whole scalp?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

For the woman with plaited hair, the obligation is to wet the roots of the hair. [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al -Falah] 

Wetting the roots of the hair is not difficult to achieve. Pouring water on the head 3 times is more than sufficient to wet the roots. It is in the nature of water to flow and to reach into even small crevices. 

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 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.