Is it permissible to use soap when performing ghusl?

It is permissible to use soap for ritual bathing (ghusl). There are Prophetic traditions (hadiths) indicating the use of a purifying agent with water in the Sunnah, such as the bathing of a person in a state of ihram with sidr and water, and the bathing of a menstruating woman with sidr and water. This indicates that mixing water with a purifying agent does not remove its status as pure and purifying. To avoid any difference of opinion, one can wash the body with pure water before or after using soap.