Along with the purification of the heart and soul Islam lays equal stress on the cleansing of the body. The Prophet has even been recorded as having said: ‘Purity is half the faith.’ Salat (prayer) is the most important form of worship in Islam. According to a hadith, God does not accept any prayer without purification of the body. That is why performing wadu (ablution), which is almost a semi-bath, has been held compulsory.

So far as complete physical bathing is concerned, the chapters in the books of hadith dealing with purity show that the Prophet and his companions used to take a bath daily. In those days bathing before fajr (dawn) was prevalent.

One narration in the book of Hadith, Musnad Ahmad tells us that Usman, the third caliph used to take a bath every day (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 484). Taking bath in the morning is a natural human requirement. This natural requirement is certainly taken care of in Islam, which is a religion of nature in the real sense of the word.

One tradition in the Sahih Bukhari has actually led to doubt regarding the daily bath. Aisha narrates that on Fridays Muslims used to come to Madinah from far-off places covered with dust and perspiration. On seeing this the Prophet said to one of them: I wish you had purified yourself today (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 902).

This hadith is not related to daily or weekly bathing. It simply means that on a day when you are joining many people to pray in congregation, you should take extra care to cleanse yourself. In this way this hadith, far from assigning the time and the frequency of bathing, describes the special importance of bathing on such congregational occasions.

Source: Simple Wisdom