In the Quran, God says: "O children of Adam, take your adornment at every masjid, and eat and drink, but be not excessive. Indeed, He likes not those who commit excess." (Surah Al –A'raf 7:31).
And yet if you go into an ablution (wudu) area of any mosque, you'll see most people leave the taps running at full pressure, with lots of wasted water ending up on the ground. For those that don't know, wudu is the act of splashing a little water on the face, ears, nose, mouth, head, arms and feet three times each to cleanse yourself before you pray.
A 10-year-old boy in Grade 6, Faiz Mohammed, has been going with his parents to the mosque for Taraweeh prayers (only performed in Ramadan) at the same time that he's been learning in school about the Islamic teachings of not being wasteful, Khaleej Times said. When Mohammed would perform wudu he realized that he, and everyone around him was wasting water. He decided to put his theory to the test. First, he performed wudu while he kept a bucket underneath him and left the water running to check how much water he used. He realized he used 7.3 liters of water. The next time he went, he filled up a mug of water instead, and used just that mug to do his wudu with. This time, he managed to use only 1.2 liters.
Compound the fact that every Muslim person does wudu around five times a day, 35 times a week and 150 times a month – that equates to 1,080 liters a month. Versus using the 1.2 liters of water in the mug, that amounts to 180 liters a month.
Talk about a vast discrepancy! Mohammed realized that by using the mug he would be saving 900 liters of water each month.
Armed with this newfound information, he started to spread awareness. First, he spoke to family members and friends who came over for Iftar. Then he took it to the mosques in Dubai. At the wudu area, he explained his findings and demonstrated the use of the mug to clean himself. He also made posters with information on conserving water, which he showed to people coming in to the ablution area. His commitment to the cause also led him to speak to young children, after the Taraweeh prayers about how not to waste water, and asked that they share the info with the rest of their family.
If a 10-year-old boy can teach adults to not be wasteful, there's so much hope for the future of Earth.