The Mustaḥabb Ghusl of a New Muslim

Beyond sunnah lies a wide range of further occasions on which ghusl is mustaḥabb, merely recommended: reward follows from making it, though nothing at all is lost by leaving it undone. Some of these occasions will strike the reader as unusual, even striking, once set out. When someone with no Islamic background at all comes to accept Islam, and is not already in a state of janābah for some other reason, it is mustaḥabb for that person to make ghusl as part of entering the religion — a friend who says he wishes to become Muslim is simply told, take a shower first, and come back, because the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) recommended precisely this.

There is the well-known account of ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him), sword in hand, on his way to kill the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) once and for all. Someone on the road who saw the fury on his face asked him where he was going; he answered plainly that he meant to finish Muḥammad. Judging that this fury would do real harm if it reached its target, the same person turned ʿUmar's anger elsewhere instead, telling him that he ought to worry about his own family before anyone else's — his own sister Fāṭimah, it was pointed out to him, had herself already become Muslim. His anger turned toward her house instead of the one he had originally set out for.

There he found a gathering that included his sister Fāṭimah (may Allah be pleased with her) and her husband, Khabbāb ibn al-Arat^* (may Allah be pleased with him), learning some newly revealed pages of the Qurʾān together. Hearing ʿUmar approaching, they hid what they had been reading at once, and Khabbāb hid himself away entirely, out of sight. When ʿUmar arrived and demanded to know what they had been doing, and whether they had indeed become Muslim, Fāṭimah answered that she had, and that nothing at all would ever make them change their religion, whatever he did to them. In his fury he struck his sister; blood came from the blow, and still she told him that their religion had been found and would not now be given up for anything. Seeing his own sister bleeding before him, something in ʿUmar softened all at once, and he asked, in a rather different tone, to see what they had actually been reading — what could possibly have given them such strength that they no longer feared even death itself. He was told that he could not read it as he currently was: he was najis, unclean, and would first have to make ghusl before it could be shown to him. He agreed, went and washed himself thoroughly, and returned; the pages were handed to him, and Khabbāb came out and read the Qurʾān to him directly. From there, as is well known, ʿUmar went straight on to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and accepted Islam. It is on the basis of this very account that ghusl is recommended for any friend who comes to accept Islam, made in the same manner already described above.