Water did not reach under the nails in Ghusl

9-3-2009 | IslamWeb

Question:

Dear Brother, Could you please clarify me the following. When I perform Ghusl, my nails were very long. So after I perform ghusl I feel that water might not touch inbetween the nails and my ghusl might not be valid. So after drying my whole body after ghusl, I trimmed the nails and touched the water in this part of the hand. Will my ghusl be valid or do I again need to perform ghusl? Please help. Thanks Anil
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alyhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The majority of scholars may Allaah have mercy upon them are of the view that making water reach all parts of the body including the parts under long nails is a condition for the validity of Ghusl (ritual bathing). If one thinks that water has most probably reached those parts, then that is enough. However, if you think that water has most probably not reached the parts under the nails, then it is an obligation to make it reach those parts. Since you trimmed your nails and made water reach the parts under the nails, then your Ghusl is correct because the close sequence (i.e. washing the parts of the body in sequence without separation) is not a condition for the validity of Ghusl according to most scholars may Allaah have mercy upon them.

For further details, please refer to Fatwa 85909.

Allaah Knows best.

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