How did the Prophet perform ghusl?
The Prophet's Method of Ghusl: A Detailed Study from Al-Wajiz
Summary
Sh. Ali Mashhour continues his detailed study of the book of purification (Al-Wajiz), focusing on the comprehensive description of ghusl (full ritual bathing). He explains the Prophet Muhammad's typical method of performing ghusl, which begins with washing the hands, followed by cleansing the private parts, performing wudu as done before prayer, working water through the hair roots, pouring water three times over the head, washing both sides of the body, and finally washing the feet. Sh. Ali Mashhour emphasizes that this detailed narration is considered the most reliable and comprehensive description found in the six canonical hadith collections. He also discusses the distinction between the Prophet's usual method of ghusl and his minimal approach when ill or bedridden, and explains why he left the feet for last in his typical practice.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Alhamdulillah. Continuing.
[Silence]
In the book of purification regarding the chapters of bathing In Alwaji, we have arrived at the most important part or one of the most important parts of this chapter which is the description of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam's the way that he would most commonly make on occasions the prophet sallall.aii Wasallam when unable to perform his usual due to illness or what have you, he would resort to the most minimalist which was making sure that the water poured over the entirety of his body. most notably near the end of his life when he was ill and bedridden with the illness that had later claimed his life. However, this is not how he would usually make listen. Just as we had the most well-known most widespread description or comprehensive description of his wudoo which is the narration of which is the basis of the descriptions of his wudoo in the six books the six mother books of hadith chosen by those authors. Likewise, the most comprehensive description of hisul is the narration of and this is as well the narration which is chosen by the authors of the six books of hadith regarding the.
[Arabic recitation]
She tells us that when the prophet Sam usually would bathe his bathing for janaba, he would begin with washing his hands. So he would use his right hand to pour the water into his left hand and then he would wash his private parts. Then he would make woo as he would for salah. Then he would take the water in his hands and work the water into the roots of his hair. And when he felt that he had worked the water deep enough into his hair, remember he usually had braids and so he would work the water under said braids. They were not very very tight braids. They were rather loose braids. He would then pour the water three times over his head and then he would pour the water over the rest of his body. in other wordings his right side of his body and then the left and then he would wash his feet. So let us review how this woo or how this would look, excuse me. He would begin. It's not coming out of a shower head, right? So it's in a it's in a kind of a kind of open container, if you will, usually about this big. or if it was big enough to pour this or he would hold it, it was small enough to hold and he would pour it into his hand. So he wouldn't put his hand into it, okay? Because he hasn't washed his hands yet, right? So he would start by using his right hand and pour the water into his left and he would wash his hands. For us, we don't really have this issue. We just turn on the faucet, right? I guess the closest thing to that or the closest equivalent would be us turning on the faucet with our right hand. And so he would wash his hands three times and then he would wash his private parts. Then he would make his full woo as he would for salah. How did he make wudoo for salah? He starts with his hands and then mouth and nose and then face and so forth. And then he would work the water into his the roots of his hair as best as he could. And he would then pour the water or rinse his head three times and then he would wash the right side of his body and then he would wash the left side of his body and then he would wash his feet. The reason he left his feet to the end is because there was no drain. Right? So the place where he washed is where all the water is. In other narrations, he would change places and then wash his feet. Again, we don't have that same dynamic. So what do we do? We can when we make the woo for salah we can make the woo for salah including the feet or leave the feet till the end. Both is okay and both is correct and then he would have concluded his also tells us in another narration in Muslim This is an interesting addition. Aisha says the messenger of Allah. Wasam would noticeably not make wudoo again after he finished his. meaning the in the way that I just described to you that is his why would you need to make again you just made you just made and so this would be his woo because it was made in this way but the details of taking the place of are details that we will arrive at later on inshallah t I want to remind everyone of something and that is that the purpose of these talks or these discussions is for us to learn new things. Right? Imagine if I sat here and taught you only what you already know. What would be the point of us? absolutely nothing. We would need to collectively, me included, get someone else to come and teach us. That's the point. So sometimes old habits are hard to break and sometimes we have a kind of adverse effect to new knowledge, new things that we haven't heard. However, that is the whole purpose of this. Otherwise, this is just a feudal exercise and intellectual flexing. That is not the point of this. The point is when we hear something new, we try to put it into action as best as we can. As best as we can. As we mentioned before, the the the advice of the scholars is to never hear a sunnah and completely abandon it. Even if you're unable to sustain it all the time, try your best that if you only can implement 20% of the time or 30% or 40 that we do this. Never do we hear a sunnah or know a sunnah and abandon it for someone else to do, right? Because then we all start to assume that the other person is doing it. And what kind of people are punished by Allah? The kinds of people who do not have any of the prophet amongst them.
[Silence]
And this is why the issue of which medab says what this is usually an exercise in futility. It's not really an important issue. This is an issue dealt with by students of knowledge, by scholars when they wish to arrive at conclusions and doublech checkck conclusions and so forth. This is for their debates. Our purposes is the prophet did the prophet said, "Well, what about if he did that but it was abregated or he did that and it was meant to be done a different way." the percentage of that of his sunnah which was abregated or redone or eliminated is an entire a an extremely small amount. you could probably gather all of his abregated actions or narrations in probably less than 50 narrations. That's it. Because abrogation is a very oneoff, very out of the ordinary thing.