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Report n°5 : "Water : symbolism and culture"

A religion unable to dispense with water

Water plays an essential role in religious observance. One could go so far as to say that withoutwater, the daily practice of Islam would be virtually impossible.

After sexual relations, a Muslim man or woman is required to wash from head to foot (ghus'l), generally at the hammam or public bath, a place of great conviviality where the Muslim community comes together around the purifying element of water; here, Qur'anic values and representations of water go hand in hand with various local practices from the Maghreb, the Middle East and, indeed, from all over the Islamic world. Women in particular are required to perform ghus'l after menstruation and also after giving birth. This head-to-toe washing is also required of both sexes before daily prayers, and in order to observe the mandatory fast over the month of Ramadan, and the rites of the minor pilgrimage (omra) and the great pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca (65). Man may not address God if his body is unclean and water is the purifying element above all others: purification by water -even metaphorical- is essential to communing with Allah. Before entering a mosque or performing the required five daily prayers, the Muslim must perform the ritual ablutions (wudu) laid down in sura 5 The Table Spread, ayat 6: "You who believe, whenever you intend to pray, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe off your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles. If you are (ritually) soiled, then take a full bath. If you are ill or on a journey, or one of you has just come from the toilet or had contact with a women, and you do not find any water, then resort to wholesome soil and wipe your faces and hands off with some of it God does not want to place any inconvenience on you, but He does want to purify you and to complete His favour towards you, in order that you (all) may act grateful." Water is necessary for the purity of both body and spirit; in extreme cases, however, the believer must aspire at least to purity of spirit by showing humility and using clean dust or sand to perform wudu. Purity of soul and purity of body go hand in hand in Islam and mutually complement one another to ensure that the Muslim is in a state of psychological wellbeing and inner harmony favourable to communication with God. The moral function of ritual ablution is clearly expressed in the sacramental words spoken to God that complete the ritual of purification: "Appoint me amongst those who repent well, and among those who purify themselves well. I seek Your forgiveness and I turn to You in repentance."

Scholars of the law and the Islamic Tradition have codified in minute detail all the points of these Qur'anic injunctions, based on how the Prophet lived his life. They have also described, in great detail, not only the manner of performing these ablutions but also the quality of the water to be used and virtually even the very quantities to be used.

Al-Qayrawani (66), the great 10th century Andalusian lawyer, recommends that the believer wash his hands three times before immersing his hands in the bowl containing the ablution water. He also recommends rinsing out the mouth three times, taking in water and expelling it through the nostrils three times, and rubbing water over the inner and outer parts of the ears.

What is the reason for this detailed attention to ablution in Islam?

Firstly, because the Prophet himself placed great importance on ablution, saying "purification is half of faith" and also that "to be a Muslin is to be clean" (according to Ibn Maja (67)). Next, because Al-Qayrawani in his famous Risala writes: "The Prophète said (hâdith): "whoever performs ablution and performs it well, then lifts his eyes towards Heaven and professes the Muslim faith, shall see open before him the eight gates of Paradise and he shall enter by whichever gate he pleases"and the law scholar goes on: "He who prays confides the secrets of his heart to God. He must therefore prepare for this act by ablution or by bathing where this is required... The ablution must be performed solely with Allah the Most High in mind and in order to obey His commandments, in the hope of gaining His approval and reward and, by this practice, to be purified of all faults committed. The believer must be sincere in his intention that this is a preparation and an act of cleanliness designed to fit him to speak with God and humble himself before Him through bowing and prostration. He shall therefore perform this action in mindfulness of these things and with the greatest of care (to perform it scrupulously), for the perfection of any act is subordinate to the purity of the intention behind it".

Water to be used for purification or for the ablutions must be pure and "no mixed with anything the law defines as impure". Its colour and odour were subjects of discussion by the law scholars (68), as well as the size of the vessel in which itwas held.

Nor did the question of how much water should be used in ablution and washing escape their vigilance.

Elsewhere, the Andalusian legal expert continues: "It is recommended that water be used sparingly, while scrupulously performing the practices of purification by ablution. Using water prodigally is an excess and a practice contrary to the Sunnah. The Envoy of Allah... performed ablution using a mudd [half a litre of water]... and he performed the purification by ablution in a vessel of four mudds [two litres]". Not wasting water is in fact no more than the strict commandment of the Qur'anic text that says: "Children of Adam, eat and drink, yet do not overdo things; He does not love the extravagant" (Sura 7 The Heights, ayat 31). It could be argued that it is normal, given the water conditions prevailing in Arabia, for the new religion to call on its followers to be sparing with water since the archaeology shows, as at Petra, that even when the nomads became sedentary, "they did not lose their sense of water economy (69)". Here, in fact, it is more of a matter of principle. The Prophet forbids wasting this precious resource even when it is available in abundance, since a hadith instructs Muslims: "Do not waste water, even if you perform your ablution on the banks of an abundantly-flowing river." In another hadith, transmitted by Abu Daoud, the Prophet says: "Guard against these three accursed things: relieving yourself near a spring, at the roadside or in the shade (70)." It is on the strength of these recommendations that Islamic lawyers and decision-makers have consistently condemned and fined those responsible for wastage, pollution, damage or poor maintenance of water facilities. In many Muslim countries, modern legislation aimed atwater pollution finds its roots and its justification in these injunctions (71). The purifying role of water in Islam, for both body and soul, is also underlined by its recommendation that Muslims should perform ritual ablution in many different circumstances: when angry, before going to bed, before eating, when coming into contact with or transporting a corpse, when observing a lunar eclipse, when soaked with perspiration, after losing consciousness or fainting, when slaughtering an animal for food, when reciting the Qur'an or hadiths, when taking a course in religious science, when visiting a mosque or a cemetery. According to Ibn Muslim (72), the Prophet also recommends bathing once a week even if there is no religious requirement to do so (in the absence of sexual relations or menstruation, for example).

When death occurs, washing the body of the deceased -a religious obligation- is always considered the greatest honour that can be paid to the soul of the departed; in many Muslim countries, pitchers of water are set out along the route of the funeral procession so that mourners as they drink from them may invoke blessings and mercy on the soul of the departed.

It is noteworthy that, in common with Islam, there are many Jewish rites designed to wash away impurity (such as the purifying immersion of tevila) and the Book of Leviticus in the Bible is given over to a detailed enumeration of the rules of purity and of sexual taboos. Water also plays an important symbolic role in Judaism, especially at the most solemn moment of the Jewish calendar, the ten days of repentance between the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah (the head of the year), and Yom Kippur: all faults, sins, errors and doubts are cast away into water. This is the annual ceremony of Tashlikh (casting away) which is the basis for the rites of purity: standing on the bank of a river or the brink of a well, Jews turn out their pockets or shake their handkerchiefs to rid themselves of their sins.

(65) The ritual of the pilgrimage includes two stations, the hills of Safa and Marwa, a re-enactment of the search for water by Hagar, wife of the prophet Abraham, after she was driven into the desert by Sarah. The most important day of the Hajj is wuquf which ends after sunset with the "Débordement des flots" and the"Déluge", Ifada and Tawaf.The pre-Islamic rite of the Ifada, at the autumn equinox, was performed facing the direction of the sanctuary of the god Quzah, god of water, thunderstorms, rain showers, etc.(See Patricia Hidiroglou, "L'eau divine et sa symbolique", Albin Michel, Paris,1994). During the pilgrimage, as during the Ramadan fast, sexual relations are prohibited.

(66) Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani, "La Risala ou Epître sur les éléments du dogme et de la loi de l'Islam selon le rite malékite", text in Arabic followed by a translation by Léon Bercher, Bibliothèque arabe-française, Algiers,1951. Abdelhamid Slama "Water issues in the ancient arab world from the origins to the end of the XIth C. AH/XVIIth C. AD. Editor: Dar El Gharb Al-Islami, Beyrouth, 2004", (arabic language)

(67) "Water and sanitation in Islam", World Health Organization (WHO), Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Alexandria (Egypt), 1996.

(68) They even codified a correct way of drinking. In 1878 Eugène Fromentin, who travelled widely in the Algerian Sahara, described a "diffa" (formal dinner or reception) to which he was invited and from which he returned with the precept: "The drinker must not breathe into the cup containing the drink, but must withdraw his lips to take breath; then he should resume drinking." (in "Un été au Sahara", Plon, Paris, 1879). This is very similar to words written by Ibn Maja, one of the greatest hadith scholars, according to a version given by legal scholar Al - Qayrawani (Ref. 16): "When drinking, do not breathe into the vessel from which you drink, but remove it from your lips and resume drinking afterwards if you wish. Do not swallow the water in long draughts, but in small sips, savouring its taste.... It is forbidden to breathe over food or drink... and it is forbidden to drink from vessels of gold or silver."

(69) Pierre Gentelle, "Traces d'eau.Un géographe chez les archéologues", Belin, Paris,2003.

(70) People seek the shade for rest and coolness.

(71) See in Ref.4 the contribution by Naser Faruqui, "Islam and water management: Overview and principles".

(72) Ref.4