Special care should be taken while washing the head...

Special care should be taken while washing the head; the hair should be combed (e.g., with your fingers) so that water reached the hair roots. While washing the right side of the body, some part of the left side must be washed too, and also, while washing the left side of the body, some part of the right side must be washed. 2. Ghusl Irtimasi: “ Ghusl irtimasi” means a bath involving immersion of the whole body in the water.

It is needless to say that such a ghusl can only be done in a body of water, e.g., a pool, river, lake or sea. After washing away the semen or blood from the body and after niyyat, the whole body should be completely immersed in the water all at once, not gradually. One has to make sure that the water reaches all parts of the body, including hair and the skin under it. However, ghusl tartibi is preferred to ghusl irtimasi. C.

Recommendable acts of Ghusl What has been mentioned above are the wajib acts of ghusl ; here we shall explain the things which are recom­mendable (mustahab, sunnat) during the ghusl . These recommendable acts are five: 1 . Washing both hands up to the elbows three times before the ghusl . 2. Gargling three times. 3. Wiping the hands on the whole body to ensure that every part has been thoroughly washed. 4. Combing the hair with the fingers to ensure that the water reaches the hair-roots.. 5.

(For men only) Doing istibra' before ghusl janabat. Istibra', in the present context, means “urinating.” The benefit of istibra': If a liquid comes out of one's penis after completing the ghusl , and he doubts whether it is semen or urine, then should he repeat the ghusl or not? If he had done istibra' before the ghusl , then he can assume that the liquid is urine -he will not have to repeat the ghusl ; he just has to do wudu for his salat.

But, on the other hand, if he had not done istibra' before the ghusl , then he has to assume that it is the remnant of semen-he will have to do the ghusl again. `Ubaydullah al-Halabi narrates that someone asked Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (as) about a man who per­forms ghusl and then finds some (doubtful) drops (on his penis) while he had already urinated before performing the ghusl .

(That is, should he consider the drops as urine or semen?) The Imam said, “He will just have to do wudu (for his salat). But if he had not passed urine before the ghusl , then he must repeat the ghusl .” [^1]46 This rule of istibra' applies only to men.