Using reclaimed wastewater in mosques

A question about using water reclaimed from household wastewater in mosques for cleaning and ablution, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that chemical treatment and physical separation are not enough to deem it pure, so ablution with it is not valid and mosques should not be cleaned with it. ¹

The questioner asked about using reclaimed water in mosques to wash courtyards, for cleaning and for ablution, noting that it is reclaimed at treatment plants by chemical treatment and physical separation of impurities, and that it originates as household wastewater. ¹

The Department answered that sewage water is impure, however large its quantity, because its qualities have changed, so purification with it is not valid; impure water becomes pure by adding a large quantity of water until the whole returns to its original state, free of the impurity's colour, taste and smell, as it quoted from al-Nawawi's Minhaj al-Talibin. ¹ It said purification by chemical treatment and physical separation is not enough to deem the water pure, since it has not truly shed the impurity, noting that Jordanian standard no. 893/2021 for reclaimed household wastewater does not allow its use for every purpose. ¹ It concluded that the water may not be used for ablution or for cleaning the body or clothes, and that cleaning mosques with it should be avoided out of respect for them, since they are places of prayer where purity is required. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3886, dated 6 June 2024. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.