Question: How to perform ghusl as prescribed by the sunnat?
ANSWER
It is very easy to perform ghusl. After washing the mouth and the nose, if one dives into the sea, into a lake, or wets one’s body thoroughly under the shower, one will have performed ghusl. It will be in accordance with the sunnat if one performs ablution first, and then washes the whole body. Niyyat [intention] for the ghusl is sunnat in the Hanafî Madhhab but fard in the other madhhabs. If a person forgets to make niyyat when performing ghusl, the ghusl will be valid, too.

When performing ghusl, you say the Basmala. It will be good as well if you say the Kalima-i shahâdat. In order to perform a ghusl as prescribed by the sunnat, we should first wash both hands and private parts even if they may be clean. Then if there is any najâsat [substances which Islam prescribes as dirty] on our body, we must wash it away. Following this, we should perform a complete ablution by intending for the ghusl. Afterwards, we must pour water on our entire body three times. To do this, we must pour it on our head three times first, then on our right shoulder three times and then on our left shoulder three times. Each time, the part on which we pour water must become completely wet. We should also rub it gently during the first pouring. In ghusl, it is permissible to pour the water on one limb so as to make it flow onto another limb, which, in this case, will be cleaned, too. For the whole body is counted as one limb in ghusl. But when performing ablution, if the water poured on one limb moistens another limb, the second limb will not be considered to have been washed. When the ghusl is completed, it is makrûh to re-perform ablution, but it will become necessary to perform ablution again if it is broken while making the ghusl. While performing ghusl, if one’s ablution is broken, it does not affect the ghusl. But one has to make a new ablution to perform namâz.

While making ghusl, it is not appropriate to soap yourself or to get rubbed with a coarce bath-glove. You should wash the dirt after or before the performance of the ghusl. It is not proper to perform both of them at the same time. In this case, one will have used more than the necessary amount of water for the ghusl, which is makrûh. In Mâlikî, if it poses an obstacle to muwâlât, i.e. washing the limbs one right after another, the ghusl will not be valid.

When having a shower, you should make ghusl first. Then you should wash yourself to clean the dirt. While washing yourself to clean the dirt, it is not an inconvenience to use necessary amount of much water.

During the performance of ghusl, if things nullifying the ablution (e.g. if blood or urine issues, or if one breaks wind) occur, one continues the ghusl because a thing that nullifies ablution does not nullify ghusl. However, one cannot perform namâz with this ablution, so one has to make ablution later.

Ghusl and extravagance
Question: Is it extravagance to use more than the necessary amount of water when performing ablution and ghusl?
ANSWER
Yes. However, it is not an inconvenience to wash yourself before or after the ghusl in order to clean the dirt.

Waswasa
Question: I am a person overwhelmed by waswasas [evil suggestions insinuated by the Devil]. Despite taking great care, if there remains any dry place on my body during ablution and ghusl, or if I forget to make the sajda-i sahw when it is necessary, or if I forget to perform other such things, or if I eat or drink as a result of forgetfulness during fasting, or if I miss a namâz by forgetting and if I do not make qadâ of it for being unable to remember, what will I do in the Hereafter?
ANSWER
In our religion, it is an excuse to forget. It does not break your fast to eat or drink by forgetting, and it does not necessitate making qadâ of it. Also, it is not a sin to miss a namâz on account of forgetfulness.

If there remains any dry place on our body during the ghusl and ablution, it is not an inconvenience as we do not know. It is not necessary to wash over and over in case there has remained any dry place. These are waswasas, and it is a sin to have these kinds of doubts.

Talking while performing ghusl
Question: Is it an inconvenience to talk during the ghusl?
ANSWER
It is an act of sunnat not to talk during the ghusl. One should not talk if there is no necessity.

Performing it at some other place
Question: In the book Endless Bliss, it is written: “When a ghusl is completed, it is makrûh to perform an ablution again. It is permissible to perform it at some other place even if it has not been broken.” What is meant by “to perform it at some other place”?
ANSWER
It means that you should perform an ablution not at the place where you have performed the ghusl, but at a washbasin which is in any other place. If it is done so, it will not be makrûh.

Washing the feet again after the ghusl
Question: Is it necessary to wash the feet again after the ghusl?
ANSWER
If water accumulates under the feet, it is necessary to wash them again. But if water does not accumulate, it is not necessary to wash them again.