Title: Is there a Prescribed Method for the Ritual Bath? Question: What is the correct method for " eghtesal" ? And is showering enough? Answer: ' Ightesaal ' [1] simply means thoroughly washing one's body or, in other words, to carefully take a bath. Thus, even though the Shari`ah has not expressly prescribed any method for ' ightesaal ', nevertheless one of the important requirements of the word is the thorough washing of whole body. As should be obvious from the above explanation, any method or sequence (of washing the body parts) that accomplishes thorough washing of the body shall meet the requirements of the word ' igtesaal ', and may, therefore, be adopted. However, the Prophet (pbuh), whose actions, in carrying out the directives of the Qur'an, provide us with the best example (the uswah e hasanah ) and the most desirable way of carrying out the directives of the Qur'an would, generally, adopt the following sequence in carrying out the Qur'anic directive of ' ightesaal ': Thoroughly wash and clean the private parts; Perform wudhu /ablution (this would obviously help in concentrating on thoroughly washing the parts that are included in the directive of ablution and, thereby, hold a greater importance); and Thoroughly wash the rest of the body from head to toe. I hope this helps. 13 th May 2000 [1] The Arabic word used for 'bath'.