The full wash, Ghusl

How to pray, lesson 3 of 8

These lessons are shared with the GABLVM app. Where a lesson mentions the app, this site has the same tools: Prayer Times, Qibla Finder, and the Quran Player.

Some things call for more than Wudu. After them, you wash the whole body before you pray. This is called Ghusl. At home it is done in the shower, and it takes about five minutes. The steps below are the way the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did it.

You need Ghusl after sexual intercourse, even without climax, and after any release of semen with desire, including a wet dream. A woman needs it when her monthly period ends, and when the bleeding after childbirth ends. Until you have done Ghusl, you do not pray.

Someone who has just become Muslim does Ghusl too. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, told a man who had just accepted Islam to wash. Say the Shahada first. The wash comes after, and it is not a condition of becoming Muslim.

Set the water to a comfortable temperature first, so you are not reaching for the controls halfway through. Know where the soap and the towel are before you start.

Then make the intention, the Niyyah. It is in your heart, not said out loud: you mean to do Ghusl. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said that the reward of deeds depends on the intentions. The intention is what turns a shower into Ghusl.

  1. Wash your hands.
  2. Pour water with your right hand onto your left, and wash your private parts with your left hand. Then clean that hand well. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, rubbed it on the ground. Soap does the same.
  3. Do Wudu. Wash your hands, rinse your mouth and your nose, wash your face, wash your right arm and then your left arm up to the elbows, and wipe your head and your ears. You can leave your feet for the end. Lesson 2 has each step in detail.
  4. Wet your fingers and work them through your hair until the water reaches the roots.
  5. Pour water over your head three times. Start with the right side of your head, then the left, then the middle. Braided hair does not need to be undone, as long as the water gets to the roots.
  6. Pour water over the rest of your body, starting with the right side. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, liked to begin with the right in everything, from putting on his shoes to combing his hair and washing, and he taught Muslims to eat and drink with the right hand. Run your hand behind the ears, under the arms, over the navel, behind the knees, and between the toes, the places water misses.
  7. Step aside and wash your feet, if you left them.

That is Ghusl. What makes it count is the intention and water reaching every part of the body. Some scholars also require rinsing the mouth and nose, and the Wudu in step 3 already covers it. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not do Wudu again after Ghusl, so you can pray straight afterwards, unless you use the toilet, pass wind, or sleep deeply first.

And Allah knows best.

Sources

Hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim are authenticated collections. Other hadith show their grading and who graded them.