Water savings in ablution: a case study for St Marys Mosque in Australia

Abstract

Religious motivation can help to save water as about 85% of world population follows a religion. This research focuses on how Muslims can save ablution water through spiritual teachings and practices. Firstly, a literature review was conducted to identify current knowledge gaps in the selected research topic. To evaluate how the Islamic teachings can influence the preservation of water, a survey was conducted consisting of 20 questions among the visitors of St Marys Mosque in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. From the survey, 283 responses were collected; after disregarding incomplete responses, 250 responses were retained for further analysis. The results show that about 40% participants considered themselves as ‘Conscious’ and they stop the tap several times during the various steps of ablution and use about 6 litres of water for one ablution. Another 42% of participants considered themselves as ‘Very Concerned’ and reduce the speed of tap water and use about 4 litres of water for one ablution. There are only 18% of the participants categorised themselves as ‘Regular/Moderate’ and use about 8 litres of water for one ablution. About 95% of the participants believe that religious motivation can play a significant role to save water during ablution and the role of Imam is identified to be a major factor in this regard. Furthermore, 64% of the participants do not have any objection to using harvested rainwater for ablution. About 95% of the participants would like to see St Marys Mosque greener and cooler by utilising harvested rainwater. About 75% of the participants positively responded to use the water pot to reduce water use during ablution, which needs only 1.5 litres of water for one ablution. This shows that the majority of the participants are very mindful to save water during their ablutions. It is anticipated that the results of this study will encourage water conservation in a mosque.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University
Supervisor	Ataur Rahman (Supervisor), Md Abdul Alim (Supervisor) & Chin Leo (Supervisor)