Is গোসল (full ritual bath) required before entering the state of ইহরাম?

Ghusl before entering ইহরাম is a Sunnah mu'akkadah (emphasized মুস্তাহাব practice) according to the consensus of the four schools of jurisprudence, but it is not an obligation (wajib) or condition (shart) for the validity of ইহরাম. This means that if a হাজী enters ইহরাম without performing গোসল — whether due to lack of water, time constraints, or any other reason — their ইহরাম is completely valid and no penalty (fidyah or dam) is required. Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen explicitly stated that performing অযু alone is sufficient if গোসল is not possible.

The Sunnah basis for গোসল before ইহরাম comes from multiple narrations. নবী করীম (সাল্লাল্লাহু আলাইহি ওয়া সাল্লাম) performed গোসল before entering ইহরাম at Dhul-Hulayfah, and he instructed Asma bint Umays, who had just given birth, to perform গোসল and then enter ইহরাম, demonstrating that গোসল before ইহরাম is মুস্তাহাব even for women in a state of post-natal bleeding (nifas). Similarly, নবী করীম instructed Aisha when she began menstruating to perform গোসল and enter ইহরাম for হজ্জ, showing that this গোসল is for cleanliness and the Sunnah of ইহরাম, not for ritual purity.

Scholars note that if water is unavailable, tayammum (dry ablution) does not substitute for the গোসল of ইহরাম, because this গোসল is a Sunnah for cleanliness rather than a required act of purification. The হাজী should simply enter ইহরাম without it. Ibn Baz confirmed that the ইহরাম is valid with or without the গোসল, and the হাজী loses only the extra reward of following this particular Sunnah.