being properly covered, or in the company of those who do not cover themselves, it is neither lawful nor permissible, for covering the private parts is obligatory. Doing otherwise impugns a person’s moral integrity.
Women are subject to the same ruling as men in this matter. This is what sound reasoning requires, because a woman may look at another woman only to the extent that a man may look at another man. The evidence is the report narrated by Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “A man must not look at another man’s private parts, nor a woman at another woman’s private parts. A man must not lie in direct bodily contact with another man under one garment, nor a woman with another woman under one garment.” Abū Hurayra also reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “No man is to lie in direct bodily contact with another man, nor any woman with another woman.” Abū Dāwūd recorded both hadiths. Thus, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made the ruling concerning what a woman may see of another woman the same as that concerning what a man may see of another man.
As far as I know, the scholars unanimously agree that women wash a deceased woman just as men wash a deceased man. They have not disagreed over this, as they have over women washing deceased male relatives whom they are permanently forbidden to marry, and men washing deceased female relatives whom they are permanently forbidden to marry. We discussed this in the section entitled “Funerals, Hunting, and Slaughtered Animals” among Ashhab’s transmissions in the Book of Funerals of al-‘Utbiyya. Ibn Abī Zayd said in al-Risāla: “A woman must not enter the bathhouse except because of an ailment.”
‘Abd al-Wahhāb said in his commentary on it: “This is because it has been reported that bathhouses are forbidden to women, so they may not enter them without an excuse. Moreover, a woman is not like a man, because her entire body must be concealed, and she may not expose herself before either a man or a woman. Women gather in the bathhouse, and ordinarily a woman cannot have it to herself. Entering it is therefore disliked for her unless she has an excuse.”
These are ‘Abd al-Wahhāb’s exact words, but they call for examination. As for what we have mentioned about bathhouses being forbidden to women, I know of no explicit statement to that effect from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). In the Book of Miscellaneous Matters of al-Ma‘ūna, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said: “The bathhouse is a place where there is no concealment. No man who believes in Allah and the Last Day may enter it except wearing a waist-wrapper,