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Public Baths in Islamic LawChristopher MELCHERTUniv. Lecturer in Arabic &#38; Islam, Oriental Institute, Univ. of Oxford - UKType de contribution : contribution aux actesIn the eighth century CE, some considered the bathhouse to be a source of ritual pollution, such that one must renew his ritual purity on leaving it.  Objections were associated especially with Basra, while most Kufan authorities seem to have defended baths.  The leading consideration seems to have been waterborne contamination from unbelievers.  From the ninth century onwards, doubts remained among the Hanabilah and some Shi`ah, who discouraged the ownership of baths, forbade women to go to them except for reasons of health, and included them among the places where one might not perform the ritual prayer.  The leading expressed consideration with them was nudity.  However, other schools have tended to be indifferent.