What do the esteemed scholars—may Allah be pleased with them all—say concerning someone who enters a bathhouse without a waist-wrapper, leaving his private parts exposed? Is this forbidden or not? Must the ruler prevent anyone from doing this? Must the ruler also require the bathhouse leaseholder not to admit anyone whose private parts are exposed?
And what of someone who remains in the bathhouse during Friday prayer and neglects the prayer? Must he be prevented from doing so? Please give us a ruling and explain the matter in detail.
Shaykh al-Islām, a surviving exemplar of the noble early generations, Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Halīm ibn 'Abd al-Salām Ibn Taymiyya, replied:
Praise be to Allah.
Yes, this is forbidden to him by agreement of the imams. It is authentically reported:
“The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) forbade people from entering bathhouses.”
The Sunan collections report that he (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said:
“Whoever among the men of my community believes in Allah and the Last Day must not enter a bathhouse without a waist-wrapper.”
Another hadith states:
“He forbade women from entering them altogether, except for a valid excuse.”
In the authentic hadith from him which al-Bukhārī cited as supporting evidence—the hadith of Mu'āwiya ibn Hayda al-Qushayrī—he said to him: “Guard