Muhammad believed that the heat of the hamam (which in Arabic means "spreader of warmth") enhanced fertility, and the followers of the faith should multiply. Until the hammam caught Muhammed's fancy, the Arabs used only cold water and never bathed in tubs, which was considered as bathing in one's own filth. But when the conquering Arabs encountered Roman and Greek baths in Syria, holy men immediately adopted the pleasure of hot air bathing (perhaps to compensate for the joys of alcohol forbidden by their faith).
As the Arabs picked up foreign bathing habits, they were quick to tailor them to their own ways. The hamam gained religious significance and became an annex to the mosque, used to comply with the Islamic laws of hygiene and purification. Physical and intellectual development was deemphasized, and only the massage remained.
Once the delight of the warm water sunk in, the cold water bath or shower after sweating no longer appealed to the Arabs.
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