al-Adab wal-Ahkam al-Mutaalliqa bi-Dukhul al-Hammam
- Author died
- 774 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Waṭan lil-Nashr
al-Adab wal-Ahkam al-Mutaalliqa bi-Dukhul al-Hammam (The Etiquettes and Legal Rulings Pertaining to Entering the Public Bath) is a specialized jurisprudential and hadith treatise by the Damascene scholar Abu al-Fida' Isma'il ibn 'Umar ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE), addressing the legal rulings, manners, and traditions associated with visiting public bathhouses (hammams) .
Subject and Legal Positions
In the treatise, Ibn Kathir examines the differing scholarly viewpoints regarding the legal status of visiting public baths, summarizing them into four main positions:
- Complete prohibition for both men and women .
- Permissibility for men and prohibition for women .
- Permissibility for men and prohibition for women, except for women who are ill or in postpartum recovery (nufasa') .
- General permissibility for both men and women subject to specific conditions, which Ibn Kathir selects as the correct view, noting reports of consensus on its conditional permissibility .
He also identifies the view of the majority (jumhur) as permitting entry for men , while citing consensus on the strict obligation of covering the nakedness (awrah) . Ibn Kathir further notes the uncommon legal opinion held by some jurists allowing women to combine the Zuhr and Asr prayers at home due to the valid excuse of going to the public bath .
Hadith Criticism and Method
Ibn Kathir analyzes the authenticity of numerous prophetic narrations and reports of the Companions transmitted on the topic:
- He declares fabricated (mawdu') by consensus of hadith experts the report stating that the Prophet entered a bathhouse, noting that the authentic report recorded by Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah instead concerns Abdullah ibn Abbas entering the bathhouse of al-Juhfah .
- He cites assessments from his teacher Abu al-Hajjaj al-Mizzi and evaluates multiple transmission lines of traditions regarding bathing etiquette .
- He judges other spurious narrations as fabricated—such as a narration prescribing washing the feet with cold water upon exiting the bath to ward off headaches—identifying obscure and abandoned narrators in their chains .
- He evaluates other specific chains as good (jayyid) when establishing their connected status .
Publication
The work was edited by Sami ibn Muhammad ibn Jad Allah and published in Riyadh by Dar al-Watan in 1418 AH / 1997 CE .
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