What Are the Obligatory Acts of the Ritual Bath (Ghusl)?

Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi

Question

If you pour the water over your body first on the right and then on the left side during the last part of ghusl, do you also have to wash it with that water? If so, can you also use soap and then rinse again? Do you also have to wash your genitals and between the buttocks?

Answer

I pray this finds you in the best of states.

In a previous answer at SeekersGuidance we can read that the obligatory actions of the purificatory bath are:

(1) To rinse out the mouth and
(2) nose, and
(3) to wash the entire body, including all that is possible to wash without undue hardship.

Please see:
The Ritual Bath (ghusl): Obligatory, Recommended, and Disliked Acts

Thus washing the private parts is also obligatory. [Shurunbulali, Nur al-Idah]

Using Soap

It is mentioned in a previous answer at SeekersGuidance that, “Detergent or soap does not affect the unconditioned nature of water in the Hanafi school.” [Ala al-Din Abidin, Gifts of Guidance]

Please see:
Is It Problematic to Use Soap During the Ritual Bath (Ghusl)?

And Allah knows best.

Wassalam,
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani