608 – Zayd ibn Thābit (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “The Prophet ﷺ stripped down for his state of ihram and performed a ghusl.” Al-Tirmidhī narrated it and judged it hasan (fair). (1)

Degree of authenticity:
The ḥadith is hasan.

Al-Talḵīṣ states: It was transmitted by al-Tirmidhī, al-Dāraquṭnī (2/220), al-Bayhaqī (8726), and al-Ṭabarānī (4862) with the chain of Zayd ibn Thābit. Al-Tirmidhī graded it hasan, whereas al-ʿUqaylī declared it weak. Al-ʿUqaylī’s criticism appears to rest on the presence of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yaʿqūb al-Madani in the isnād, whose status is unknown. Ibn al-Mulqin observed that al-Tirmidhī may have possessed information about ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yaʿqūb’s reliability when he graded the report hasan; Ibn al-Sakan likewise authenticated it.

The practice of bathing for ihram is further established by the ḥadith of Jābir in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (1218) and by the ḥadith of ʿĀʾishah recorded by Aḥmad (23350) with a sound chain.

Vocabulary:
• “Stripped for his ihram”: he removed his stitched garments in order to change into the two pieces of ihram cloth and enter the sacred state.

Points derived from the ḥadith:
1 – Men are obliged to remove tailored (stitched) clothing and to wear the izār and ridāʾ when entering ihram.
2 – Performing a ghusl for ihram is a legislated and strongly emphasized act.
3 – The purpose of the bath is physical cleanliness for this noble act of worship, and it symbolizes the hopeful washing away of sins and their traces.