Answer

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Responding to your question on how to perform ghusl, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

The proper method of ghusl (ritual bath) involves the following steps:

1- Make the intention to perform ghusl for purification.

2- Wash your private parts thoroughly with water.

3- Perform wudu (ablution) except for washing your feet, which you can do later while bathing the body.

4- Wash the entire body, starting with your head and the right side, followed by the left.

5- It is preferred that the whole body be washed three times. The minimum is once.

Having completed the above, you are considered eligible to perform the prayer.

Allah Almighty knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.