A person is questioning whether excessive doubt about the validity of their intention during ghusl (ritual washing) invalidates the act. They also ask if washing the head and neck after water has reached the feet affects the validity of the ghusl.
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1 Answer
Peace be upon you.
According to Ayatollah Khamenei and Ayatollah Sistani:
- You do not need to verbally express your intention, whether loudly or quietly. The essence of intention in acts of worship is the intention to perform the act as an act of devotion to Allah.
In other words, you should know that you are performing the Fajr prayer or that you are making wudu (ablution) for prayer, intending it as an act of devotion to Allah, such that if asked what you are doing, you would respond that you are praying Fajr or making wudu. There is no requirement to say anything either in your heart or on your tongue.
Thus, merely your act of preparing for ghusl and your intention to perform it as an act of devotion to Allah is sufficient for your intention.
- If excessive doubt about intention or other matters of worship, purity, and impurity arises from whispers of the devil (waswasa), the ruling is to disregard these doubts and complete the ghusl and worship, assuming you are in a state of purity.
- During the washing of one part of the body, the water reaching another part does not invalidate the ghusl.
May you be successful in all good.
Source:
Ayatollah Khamenei: Educational Message - Wudu (2) - Conditions of Wudu + Answers to Inquiries, Rulings on Waswasa + Answers to Inquiries, Q192.
Ayatollah Sistani: Minhaj al-Salihin, Vol. 1, Conditions of Wudu, Intention + Official Website + Minhaj al-Salihin, Vol. 1, Obligations of Ghusl from Janabah.