– Another point: the verse also clarifies the major form of purification—its manner and its cause. As for its manner, the servant must wash the entire outward surface of his body with water. Allah says, “and if you are in a state of major impurity, then purify yourselves” (4:43). He did not single out a limb or a set of limbs; rather, He made purification obligatory for the whole body. Thus, the person performing the ritual bath must let the water reach every part of his outward body and beneath all hair, whether light or thick, and it must be by washing, not merely wiping.

– Major-impurity purification is not subject to any required sequence or to uninterrupted continuity.

– Among the causes that obligate it is sexual impurity (janabah). From their Prophet ﷺ, Muslims have learned that janabah occurs through the emission of semen, whether awake or asleep even without intercourse; through intercourse even if no emission takes place; or through the presence of both factors together.

– Allah has also stated in Surah al-Baqarah another cause that necessitates the bath: menstruation. He says, “Do not approach them until they are purified; and when they have purified themselves, then approach them from where Allah has commanded you” (2:222). Here, too, purification is linked to the whole body just as in the case of janabah, and this includes postpartum bleeding.

– The bath required when a disbeliever embraces Islam, as well as the washing of the deceased, is established by the Sunnah.

– Many scholars have argued, on the basis of the genitive reading (1) in the verse “and wipe over your heads and your feet,” that it points to wiping over leather socks, which the Sunnah plainly confirms. As for the accusative reading (2) “your feet,” it makes the feet part of the limbs that are washed.