What Is the Proper Method of Performing the Ritual Bath (Ghusl)?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

I am confused because I think my process of Ghusl is mistaken. In my process of Ghusl, I say the intention and bismillah in my mind, then wash my hands three times, then clean the private part with my left hand and wash the hands again, then clean the mouth three times, then clean the nostril three times, then cleaning my hair to neck three times, then let the water pour over my body entirely one time. Is my Ghusl valid? May Allah reward you.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

The ritual bath (ghusl) that you described is valid as you have fulfilled the minimum requirements mentioned below.

The Method of Performing a Complete Ritual Bath (ghusl)

The method of performing the ritual bath (ghusl) is as follows:

• Beginning in the name of Allah Most High, wash both hands up to the wrists three times while intending the ritual bath (ghusl).
• Wash off any impurities from the body, wherever it may be.
• Wash both front and back private parts-even if there be no impurities on them.
• Perform a complete ablution (wudu) including the feet if you are standing in a place where the water does not gather at your feet. If the water does gather at your feet, perform the complete ablution (wudu) saving the feet for the end of the ghusl.
• Pour water over your head three times.
• Pour water over your body starting from your right shoulder three times.
• Pour water over your body starting from your left shoulder three times.

Note: For the first pouring of the final three steps, use your hand to guide the water to all parts of the body. This is sunna.

This is the full sunna method of performing ghusl. This includes actions that are obligatory, actions that are emphasized sunna, and others that are merely recommended.

The Minimum Ghusl Requirements

Note that if one were to only rinse their mouth, their nose and make water reach every part of their outer body, the ghusl is valid. But it is disliked to constantly suffice with the minimum without an excuse for doing so.

All of the above-mentioned discussion is taken from the book mentioned in brackets. [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]

Hope this helps
Allah A’lam

[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 a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.