ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm al-Anṣārī, a reliable authority and one of Mālik’s senior teachers. Yet he never met Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays, for she died before the year 50 AH whereas ʿAbd Allāh was born after the year 60 AH, as can be learned from Tahdhīb and other biographical works.
Even were this report sound, its plain sense would point to the obligation of this ghusl, exactly as Ibn Ḥazm held; for they exempted her from it only because of the intense cold while she was fasting. Reflect on this.
Benefit: There are other established occasions for ritual bathing that the author has not mentioned, and I thought it useful not to overlook them:
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Ghusl after every act of marital relations. Abū Rāfiʿ narrated that the Prophet ﷺ went round to his wives one day, bathing after being with this one and that one. Abū Rāfiʿ said, “Messenger of Allah, will you not make it a single bath?” He replied, “This is purer, better, and cleaner.” Abū Dāwūd and others recorded it with a good chain; for that reason I included it in Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd and noted there that al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar judged it sound and used it as proof for what we have stated.
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The ghusl of a woman with continuous non-menstrual bleeding (istiḥāḍa): either before every prayer, or—alternatively—one bath for Ẓuhr and ʿAṣr together, one for Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ together, and one for Fajr. ʿĀʾishah relates: “Umm Ḥabībah suffered from istiḥāḍa in the Prophet’s time, and he ordered her to bathe for every prayer …” In another wording from her: “A woman suffered from istiḥāḍa during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and she was instructed to bring ʿAṣr forward, delay Ẓuhr, and take a single bath for both of them; to delay Maghrib, hasten ʿIshāʾ, and bathe once for both; and to bathe for the dawn prayer.” The chain of the latter version is sound according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, while the former is merely sound, as I clarified in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Sunan, nos. 300 and 305.