OnIslam.net

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

The proper method of ghusl (ritual bath) involves the following steps:

1. Make the niyyah (intention) to perform ghusl for purification.

2. Wash your private parts thoroughly with water.

3. Perform wudu’ (ablution) except for washing of your feet, which you can do later while bathing the body.

4. Wash the entire body, starting with your head and the right side, followed by the left.

5. It is preferred that the whole body be washed three times. The minimum is once.

Having completed the above, you are considered eligible to perform the salah (prayer).

Allah Almighty knows best.

Excerpted, with slight modifications, from: www.islam.ca