is transmitted in two versions:
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In the first, the Prophet ﷺ said, “Take him to the orchard of such-and-such a clan and tell him to bathe.” (Ahmad 7977; Ibn Khuzaymah 1/125)
This is corroborated by the ḥadīth of Qays ibn ʿĀṣim: after he accepted Islam, the Prophet ﷺ ordered him “to wash with water and lote-leaves.” (Ahmad 20088; al-Tirmidhī 605, graded ḥasan) -
The second version—related by al-Bukhārī and Muslim about Thumamah’s conversion—reports that Thumamah himself went off, performed a bath, and then embraced Islam. His bathing, therefore, constitutes the Prophet’s tacit approval rather than an explicit command, and such approval, as the legal theorists state, does not establish an obligation.
Consequently, the stronger view is that a non-Muslim’s bath upon entering Islam is recommended, not obligatory, for the following reasons:
• First: multitudes embraced the faith. Had the Prophet ﷺ required every new Muslim to bathe, the instruction would have reached us through multiple or at least unmistakable transmission.
• Second: when the Prophet ﷺ dispatched Muʿādh to Yemen he said, “Invite them to bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.” Had bathing been compulsory, he would have ordered it as the very first duty of Islam.
Al-Khaṭṭābī remarks that most scholars consider the bath recommended, not binding.
This recommendation is also the second narration from Imām Aḥmad, preferred by a number of Hanbalīs; al-Insāf declares it the stronger opinion.
Accordingly, the reports of Qays ibn ʿĀṣim and Thumamah ibn Uthal are to be understood as recommending, not mandating, the bath.
The scholars unanimously agree on the legitimacy of bathing; their only difference concerns whether it is obligatory or merely recommended.