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Ablution Design: The Concepts and Design

Criteria

Conference Paper · April 2015

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 International Colloquium of Art and Design Education Research 2015[i-CADER2015]
12-15 April 2015, Bayview Hotel Langkawi

Ablution Design: The Concepts and Design Criteria

Abu Bakar Abd Hamid1, Mohamad Hanif Abdul Wahab2, Aida Alias3, Norashikin Rahmat4
1, 2, 3
Centre of Interior Architecture Studies, Fac. of Architecture, Planning and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Shah Alam Selangor
1
abah7591@salam.edu.my, 2hanif0552@salam.edu.my, 3aidaa165@uitm.edu.my
4
PhD Candidate, Built Environment, Fac. of Architecture, Planning and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Shah Alam Selangor
4
rashis_84@yahoo.com.my

Abstract— Ablution is one of the prerequisite activities to
pray which consists of procedure that involves water to a
particular body to clean itself from small impurities. This is call
wudhu in the Arabic word. In order to make the wudhu is in the
perfect order; it is required to perform certain actions in correct
sequence. The ablution area is very important to ensure the
users’ comfort and satisfied while taking the wudhu. Users often
complain of inadequate size of the ablution area and narrow
space when taking wudhu. To perform a prayer in a comfortable
situation, a good ablution’s condition and space is also important
because in Islam, the cleanliness is a very important aspect
especially when someone wants to pray. Therefore this research
focused on the significance on concept and design elements in the
ablution area. These elements of design and concept were
discussed in this study to make sure that the right and suitable
aspects of design of the ablution area can be design and construct
accordingly to the needs of the users. The design for the ablution
area either in the mosque or the prayer rooms in the shopping
centres should take a consideration of different types of users;
the normal users, the elderly and the disabled.
Keywords—design of ablution standard, Muslim prayer halls,
design environment, ablution criteria, wudhu.
I. INTRODUCTION
In the world population, Muslims people cover about 20
– 25% of the world population which is Islam is the majority
almost in 40 countries [4]. With the high percentage of
Muslims ordinary doing their practice the Islam, including
prayers, the needed for Muslims is to design, build and
maintain the prayer space in the whole of the world. Some
designers, either Muslim or non-Muslim, are interested to
design either mosque or a praying facility in shopping mall, an
exhibition hall, an airport, or other public building [11].
Wudhu or ablution is one of Islamic procedure for washing
parts of the body using water for preparation of formal prayers
(Solah).
According to [3], ablution comes from ―Al-Wadha’ah‖
which means cleanliness and brightness. While [6] defines
ablution as an act that in physical and spiritual. Ablution is a
state that must be achieved as a prerequisite prior to Muslim
prayer, in order to do so; one must perform wudhu or ritual
cleansing and purification. The ablution function involves
cleaning with fresh water certain parts of the body in a certain
steps and according to right order. It starts with rinsing the
palms, rinsing the mouth, washing the nose by sniffing,
washing the face, washing each arm up to the elbow, wiping
the hair with wet hands, rubbing the tears with wet hands, and
lastly, washing the feet up to the ankle [7].
In order to make sure that the ablution process is perfect,
the ablution design should be parallel with the need and
requirements of different types of users. As [6] highlighted
that the consolidation between the ablution ritual and product
design is expected to facilitate the practical implementation of
ablution.
II. OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY
The objective of this paper is to help designer to design
Muslim ablution in the public buildings through the
conceptual and design elements recommend by local
authorities or State Islamic Council. These conceptual designs
irregularly differ from those of purpose-built ablution. The
author has developed several methods to support this research.
Using the existing design standards for ablution area are
looked at seriously and are used where is suitable. The
author’s experience as a designer, a space user and an
analytical observer of how the people use ablution are
capitalized on so as to study well-designed spaces, identify
their strengths, and incorporate with the design standard and
the criteria of ablution function. These researches are also to
identify poorly-designed spaces, analysis the weaknesses and
recommend their avoidance. The author’s discussions with
some a few local authorities’ officer have revealed their
requirement to understand the functions performed in these
spaces.
III. PROBLEM STATEMENTS
Ablution process is a very important practice in order for
Muslim to praying. According to [8] without going through
the ablution process, someone’s or the Muslim’s prayer is
incomplete unless the Muslim takes ‘Tayamum’ or dry
ablution as another alternative for taking ablution [6].
Therefore, it is important to make sure that the ablution area
can fit in all kinds of users with standardize and suitable
ablution design [8]. A good function of the ablution area is
one of the fundamental elements for Muslim before
performing ‘solah’. In many Islamic countries including in
Malaysia, there are no have any guidelines design for ablution
criteria. Some of them just do and design based on the others
references but is not enough to understand the elements and
concept of ablution in Islam. The exactly design and method

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