Step 4 of 11
Entering Islam, and Washing the Deceased
When Qays ibn 'Asim came to the Prophet ﷺ to accept Islam, he told him to bathe with water and lote-tree leaves (sidr). A new Muslim is therefore told to make ghusl; the schools differ on whether it is obligatory in itself.
A Muslim who dies is also washed by the living. The Prophet ﷺ told the women washing his daughter to wash her three or five times or more, with water and sidr. This is a duty the community must see to, and it has its own detailed rulings that are covered separately.
The four schools differ on some details. Show them
Each school's ruling, with the schools that share it named together.
Is ghusl obligatory for a non-Muslim who enters Islam?
3 of 4 schools agree. Differing: Hanbali.
Show each school
- Obligatory only if ghusl was already dueHanafi · Maliki · Shafi'i
- Obligatory (wajib)Hanbali
- Hanafi
- It is recommended for every new Muslim, and obligatory if he was in janabah, or she had menstruated, without having bathed.
- Maliki
- He bathes because of the janabah or similar state he had before, not because of Islam itself; since this is the case for nearly every adult, a new Muslim is told to bathe.
- Shafi'i
- It is recommended for every new Muslim, and obligatory if he had a cause of ghusl before accepting Islam, even if he had bathed then.
- Hanbali
- Ghusl is obligatory for anyone who enters Islam, whether or not he had a cause of ghusl, following the command of the Prophet ﷺ to Qays ibn 'Asim.
- Sunan Abi Dawud 355Graded by Al-Albani: Sahih · Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid: Sahih · Zubair Ali Zai: SahihSahih
- Jami' al-Tirmidhi 605Graded by Ahmad Muhammad Shakir: Sahih · Al-Albani: Sahih · Zubair Ali Zai: SahihSahih
- Sunan al-Nasa'i 188Graded by Abu Ghuddah: Sahih · Al-Albani: Sahih · Zubair Ali Zai: SahihSahih
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1253 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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