What is ghusl, and when do I need it?

Step by step

1. Intention. Intend in your heart that you are purifying yourself.
2. Say Bismillah and wash your hands. Wash your hands, then wash away any impurity from the private parts.
3. Make wudu. Make wudu as you would for prayer. Some people leave washing the feet until the end.
4. Pour water over your head. Three times, making sure it reaches the roots of the hair.
5. Wash the whole body. The right side first, then the left, so that no part is left dry: the navel, behind the ears, between the toes.

When ghusl is required

• After sexual intercourse.
• After a sexual discharge, awake or in sleep.
• When a period ends.
• When postnatal bleeding ends.
• After becoming Muslim: required in the Hanbali school, recommended in the others in most cases. In practice, do it.

The minimum, and the sunnah

At minimum, water must reach the whole body with the intention of ghusl. The Hanafi and Hanbali schools also require rinsing the mouth and the nose, and the Hanbali school requires them in wudu too. The Shafi'i and Maliki schools count them as sunnah. The steps above are the sunnah way, and they include all of this.

After a ghusl you are also in a state of wudu, as long as nothing breaks it.

Common questions