Does Long Pubic Hair Affect Water Reach the Skin?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

I’m a young Muslim that suffers from misgivings. While doing my ghusl, I noticed that I have long pubic hair; I washed the area as I usually do, but after, I became worried that it might have affected my ghusl and that the water didn’t reach the skin properly, so I shaved and washed the area with the intention of continuation of ghusl because I remember I read that if water didn’t reach an area you can wash it later if it’s not too long after. It had only been an hour or so (I’m not sure if what I read was true, though).

So my question is, do I need to repeat my ghusls? And is it true that if water didn’t reach a specific area during the ghusl, you could wash it later?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.

The nature of water is that it can generally reach the skin easily. Do not worry. However, in an obligatory (fard) bath, unlike a normal shower wash, it is a condition for washing any limb to be valid that flowing water contacts every part of that limb. If you realize a dry spot on one of your limbs, merely take some new water and wash that part. [‘Ala’uddin Ibn ‘Abidin, al-Hadiyya al-‘Ala’iyya]

Please read this link for a better understanding: Forgetting Parts of Ritual Ablution (Wudu) and Maintaining Continuity

Related:

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• The Ritual Bath (ghusl): Obligatory, Recommended, and Disliked Acts
• A Reader on Ritual Purity, Urine Leakage, and Misgivings
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• A Reader on OCD and Waswasa (Baseless Misgivings)
• Satanic Tactics: Seven Tricks of the Devil
• Being Balanced – Emotional and Mental Health

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I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.