even if they begin together; this is the position of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. The difference among the jurists stems from the divergent prophetic reports on the subject, for there are four traditions:
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“The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—used to perform the ritual bath for major impurity together with his wives from a single vessel.”
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The ḥadīth of Maymūnah, which states that he bathed using the water left over from her washing.
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The report of al-Ḥakam al-Ghifārī—recorded by Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī—according to which “the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—forbade a man to make ablution with water left over by a woman.”
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The ḥadīth of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sarjis: “The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—prohibited a man from bathing with water left over by a woman and a woman from bathing with water left over by a man, but permitted them to begin together.”
Scholars have adopted two approaches in handling these reports: some give precedence to certain narrations (tarjīḥ), while others combine some of them and prefer others.
Those who favor the report describing the Prophet’s bathing with his wives from a single vessel—because it is accepted by all the major authentic collections—and who see no distinction between bathing together and one of them bathing with the other’s remainder (for when two people bathe together, each in fact uses the other’s leftover water), and who also deem the ḥadīth of Maymūnah sound and weightier than the report of al-Ghifārī, conclude that all such remainders are pure without restriction.
Those who prefer the report of al-Ghifārī over the ḥadīth of Maymūnah—this is the view of Abū Muḥammad Ibn Ḥazm—and reconcile it with the account of the Prophet’s bathing with his wives by distinguishing between bathing together and one person using the other’s leftover water, act on these two reports alone: they allow a man and woman to wash simultaneously from one vessel, but do not allow the man to use water left over from the woman’s purification, while permitting her to use what remains after his.
Finally, those who seek to harmonize all the reports except the ḥadīth of Maymūnah rely on the narration of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sarjis, for it can be reconciled with both the report of al-Ghifārī and the account of the Prophet’s bathing with his wives, while adding the further stipulation that the woman is not to perform ablution