Step 1 of 11
What Ghusl Is
Ghusl is washing the whole body with water as an act of worship. Wudu lifts the minor state of impurity; ghusl lifts the major one, such as janabah, the state after intercourse or a sexual emission.
Allah says in Surat al-Ma'idah: ﴿وَإِن كُنتُمْ جُنُبًا فَاطَّهَّرُوا﴾ (“And if you are in a state of janabah, then purify yourselves”), and in Surat al-Nisa' He tells the believers not to approach the prayer in that state until they have washed.
There is nothing shameful in learning these rulings. The women of Madinah asked the Prophet ﷺ about them openly, and he answered them clearly, because purity is part of faith.
All four schools agree on this step.
- Qur'an 5:6
- Qur'an 4:43
- Sahih al-Bukhari 282 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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