Assalaamu alaykum. I suffer from Waswaas (devilish whisperings/obsessive doubts) in ablution and Ghushl (ritual bath). Please clarify these two things. I have long hair. How much of the hair beside my forehead should I wash in ablution given that some of that hair follows in between my two ears? And how can I ensure during Ghushl that water reaches the skin under my eyebrows, which are thick?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The skin underneath the hairline is not within the limits of the face, and likewise is the hair on the temples (sides of the forehead). What is above the sideburns is not part of the face, and it is not obligatory to wash it with the face. The same applies to the skin under the hairline, as we have already mentioned.

The author of Ar-Rawdh Al-Murbi' said, “He washes the light facial hair that shows the skin, such as the sideburns, cheek hair, eyelashes, mustache, and the tuft of hair below the lower lip (soul patch) because they are part of the face; this does not apply to the hair that grows on the hairline and temples.”

Thus, you come to realize what is obligatory to wash of the face and what is not.

As for the eyebrows, they cannot be so thick to the extent that the skin is not visible underneath them. Therefore, it is obligatory to make the water reach the skin under the eyebrows, and this is easy. It is sufficient to believe that the water has most likely reached the skin, along with disregarding obsessive whisperings and striving to ignore them.

Allah knows best.