He did ghusl for Jumu‘ah and did not do wudu; does he have to repeat the prayer?

Firstly:

In terms of whether ghusl orwashing one’s body is sufficient and there is no need to do wudu too, or that is not the case, there are several scenarios:

1.. If washing the body is done for a permissible purpose, such as cleaning oneself or cooling down, this does not take the place of wudu, even if the person intends by washing himself to do wudu, because it is stipulated that the actions of wudu must be done in a particular order.

2.. If washing the body is done for an obligatory purpose, such as ghusl in the case of janabah or following menses or nifas, then this is sufficient and there is no need to do wudu too, because minor hadath (impurity) is included with major hadath in this case, so if the major hadath is removed by ghusl, then the minor hadath is inevitably removed too.

3.. If washing the body is done for a recommended purpose, such as ghusl for Jumu‘ah, then concerning this type the scholars differed as to whether it removes the hadath (impurity) and there is no need to do wudu too, or it does not remove the hadath.

The first scholarly view is that it does remove the hadath. This is the view of the Hanbalis.

Shaykh Mansur al-Bahuti (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Daqa’iq Uli an-Nuha (1/55): If a person does ghusl, intending it to be Sunnah when it is obligatory for him, or he does ghusl, intending it as obligatory when it is Sunnah, it is valid in both cases. End quote.

The second view is that ghusl for Jumu‘ah does not take the place of wudu, even according to the view that ghusl for Jumu‘ah is obligatory; rather it is essential to do wudu as well as ghusl. This has been discussed previously on our website, as in the answer to question no. 99543 .

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymin (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: If someone washes his body to cool down in the manner of a proper ghusl, is that sufficient and is there no need to do wudu too? If it is not sufficient, then what is the ghusl that is sufficient so that there is no need to do wudu too? Is it essential to form the intention (niyyah)?

He replied: Cooling down is not an act of worship or obedience, so if a person washes his body in order to cool down, that is not enough to take the place of wudu. What is sufficient to take the place of wudu is doing ghusl to purify oneself from janabah, or the ghusl that a woman does following the end of her menses or nifas, because it is done to remove hadath (impurity). As for recommended (mustahabb) types of ghusl, such as ghusl when entering ihram, for example, that does not take the place of wudu. The same applies to obligatory types of ghusl that are not done to remove impurity, such as ghusl on Friday, because it does not replace wudu.

Nothing replaces wudu expect ghusl that is done to remove impurity (hadath).

Questioner: What if he includes it in his intention?

Shaykh: Even if he includes it in his intention [it does not replace wudu], because the actions of wudu must be done in a particular order.

Questioner: And in the case of ghusl to remove impurity (hadath), is the intention essential?

Shaykh: If he intends to do ghusl to remove impurity (janabah), it is sufficient and there is no need to do wudu, because Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): {And if you are in a state of janabah, then purify yourselves} [al-Ma’idah 5:6], and He did not mention wudu.

End quote from Liqa’at al-Bab al-Maftuh.

Secondly:

If someone prayed having done the ghusl of Jumu‘ah, thinking that it was sufficient and that he did not to do wudu, then later on he found out that the matter was other than he thought, he is not to be instructed to repeat the prayers that he offered in the past, taking into consideration the view of the scholars who regard that as permissible, because it is a view that carries weight, and because a person is excused regarding matters concerning which no religious text reached him, as was affirmed by Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him).

But from now on, now that we have explained the difference of scholarly opinion concerning that, undoubtedly the most prudent option, to err on the side of caution, is for him to do wudu as well as ghusl. The Sunnah is to do that wudu before ghusl, not afterwards.

For more information, please see the answers to questions no. 45648 and 115532 .

And Allah knows best.