“Wudu” is the Islamic act of washing parts of the body using water. According to Wikipedia – Muslims are required to be clean in preparation for ritual prayers which are prescribed to be taken 5 times a day.
There are four obligatory acts that have to be performed, if one is omitted then all must be performed again. These are:
- washing the face once
- washing both the arms (including the elbows) once
- performing Masah on one fourth of the head
- washing both the feet once; up to and including the ankles
The water that is used for this process may only be rain, well, spring, sea or river water; or water from melting snow or hail; or water from a big tank or pond. It must be clean, and cannot be re-used during the process. So as you can imagine this uses a great deal of water. In fact, according to an article I read in the Xpress newspaper, two million pilgrims use fifty million litres of water EVERY DAY during the Haj in Saudi Arabia.
But there is some good news, a company is now producing a high-tech automatic Wudu Washer in Kuala Lumpur that will save up to 80% on the current water usage during ablutions.
I think this is great news, especially in the desert (where it is kinda scarce to start with).