to Khurāsān, nor did he visit any other lands except on the one occasion when he went to Damascus. The lands mentioned are predominantly hot, and their inhabitants generally have no need of bathhouses. Hence there were no bathhouses in the Hijaz during the time of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his caliphs. Neither the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, nor Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, or ʿUthmān ever entered a bathhouse.

The report that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, entered a bathhouse is fabricated, by agreement of the scholars versed in hadith. However, when ʿAlī came to Iraq, there were bathhouses there. Several Companions entered bathhouses, and a bathhouse was built at al-Juhfa which Ibn ʿAbbās entered while in ihrām.

Alternatively, Ahmad’s response may have been unqualified in itself, without his having considered cases of need one way or the other. His response would therefore not encompass such cases, and no disapproval concerning them should be attributed to him. Or he may have intended his response as a general prohibition, whether there was a need or not. Of the three possible interpretations, this is the least plausible reading of his words, since his principles and his other explicit statements on comparable matters preclude it. It also conflicts with the principles of Islamic law. Moreover, it is reported that when he fell ill, bathing in a bathhouse was prescribed for him.

Abū ʿAbd Allāh would refrain from entering bathhouses in emulation of Ibn ʿUmar, who would not enter them and would say, “They are among life’s luxuries.” This is possible in a land