Can You Say Bismillah in Bathroom When Taking Off Clothes?

Praise be to Allah.

Saying Bismillah when taking off clothes: Sunnah?

There are da‘if (weak) hadiths which speak of saying Bismillah when taking off one’s clothes. They state that the wisdom behind that is that it will cause the person’s ‘awrah to be concealed from the eyes of the jinn. Al-Albani deemed these reports to be sahih when they are taken together.

Saying Bismillah in the bathroom: Disliked? 

It is makruh (disliked) to say Bismillah in the bathroom , because it is an unclean place.

With regard to saying Bismillah when starting to do wudu in particular, if one is doing wudu in the bathroom, there is a difference of opinion concerning that among the scholars, based on the ruling on saying Bismillah and starting to do wudu.

Those who think that it is obligatory to say Bismillah [when starting to do wudu] do not see anything wrong with saying it in the bathroom, because doing an obligatory act takes precedence over avoiding something that is makruh. 

Based on that, Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Baz (may Allah have mercy on him) regarded it as permissible to say Bismillah before doing wudu in the bathroom.

Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Baz (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

“There is nothing wrong with doing wudu in the bathroom, if there is a need for that, and saying Bismillah when starting to do wudu, because that is obligatory according to some of the scholars, and is emphasized according to most of them, so the individual should say it and it is no longer regarded as makruh, because it is no longer regarded as makruh when there is a need to say Bismillah, and the individual is enjoined to say Bismillah when starting to do wudu. So he should say Bismillah and complete his wudu.” (Majmu‘ Fatawa Ibn Baz, 10/18)

Saying Bismillah in the bathroom when taking off clothes?

Based on that, it is not correct to make an analogy between saying Bismillah when taking off one’s clothes and saying Bismillah when doing wudu, because saying Bismillah when taking off one’s clothes is not obligatory, and even according to the view that it is mustahabb (recommended) to say Bismillah when doing wudu, saying it in the case of wudu is more important than saying it when taking off one’s clothes and the like.

Hence it is makruh to say Bismillah for that reason in the bathroom.

But there is nothing wrong with keeping it in mind , without uttering it out loud.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymin (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

“If one is in the bathroom, Ahmad said: If a man sneezes [in the bathroom] he should praise Allah in his heart. From this report it may be understood that he should say Bismillah in his heart.” (Ash-Sharh al-Mumti‘, 1/159-160)

And Allah knows best.