Step 5 of 11
Intention
Ghusl begins in the heart. Before you start, intend that you are bathing to lift the state of janabah, menstruation or postnatal bleeding, or to make yourself pure for prayer.
As with wudu, the intention is a decision of the heart, not words on the tongue. A shower taken only to cool off or get clean is not ghusl for most of the schools, even if the water reaches the whole body.
Saying "Bismillah" before you begin is good, as it is before wudu.
The four schools differ on some details. Show them
Each school's ruling, with the schools that share it named together.
Is the intention required for ghusl to be valid?
3 of 4 schools agree. Differing: Hanafi.
Show each school
- SunnahHanafi
- Required for validityMaliki · Shafi'i · Hanbali
- Hanafi
- Ghusl done without an intention still lifts the impurity, because what is required is that the water reaches the whole body; the intention is needed for the reward.
- Maliki
- The intention is one of the obligations (fara'id) of ghusl, based on the hadith that deeds are only by their intentions.
- Shafi'i
- The intention is a pillar of ghusl and should be present when the water first reaches the body.
- Hanbali
- The intention is a condition (shart) of ghusl; without it the ghusl does not count.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
The positions of the four schools are summarised from their standard references and are pending review by a qualified scholar. Follow the school you were taught, and for your own situation, ask a scholar.
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