He states: “Abū Bakr ibn al-ʿArabī said, ‘The scholars are unanimously agreed that wudūʾ is subsumed under ghusl and that the intention of removing janābah suffices for lifting minor impurity …’ ”

I reply: On the contrary, the scholars have differed on this point; Ibn al-ʿArabī only spoke according to what he knew, and “above everyone who possesses knowledge stands One all-knowing.” In fact, al-Ḥāfiẓ said in Fatḥ al-Bārī 2/1/287:

“Ibn Baṭṭāl transmitted a consensus that wudūʾ is not obligatory alongside ghusl, but this is refuted, for a group—including Abū Thawr, Dāwūd and others—held that ghusl does not take the place of wudūʾ for one who is in a state of minor impurity.”

Al-Shawkānī added after citing this:

“This is the view of the majority of scholars. The first opinion—namely, that wudūʾ is not obligatory with ghusl and that the lesser purification is subsumed under the greater—was espoused by Zayd ibn ʿAlī. There is no doubt about the legitimacy of performing wudūʾ before ghusl, as the authentic hadiths establish, but as for its obligation, no evidence proves it; mere practice is not enough to establish obligation. Nevertheless, the second view can be bolstered by the texts that enjoin wudūʾ.”

I add: The non-obligatory view is also the position of Ibn Ḥazm, contrary to what some may imagine; see al-Muḥallā 2/28.

He further states: “4 – There is no harm in entering a public bathhouse so long as the entrant is safe from looking at others’ ʿawrah and others are safe from looking at his.”

I say: Stated unqualified, this applies to everyone who enters the bathhouse, including women, for the author made no exception for them. Accordingly, I maintain: women may not be included in this ruling at all; rather, the bathhouse—meaning the one outside the home—is categorically forbidden for them, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should not enter the bathhouse unless he is wearing a waist-wrap, and whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should not let his wife enter the bathhouse …”