This article is an extract from our booklet Diversity Matters - Guide to Best Practice Multi-Faith Room Design. To download a pdf copy of the full booklet, please click the image below

It can be difficult to equip events such as seminars, weddings, festivals and exhibitions with appropriate prayer and washing facilities for Muslim guests, since this is likely to involve a temporary high level of demand. However, there is a huge amount of goodwill to be gained if you can try to meet the spiritual needs of your guests while they attend your event.

Allocating a space for prayer can be relatively easy in a commercial environment, either to be left as a dedicated space for Salat for the duration of the event, or used at other times for something else, and space cleared/chairs moved etc specifically for Salat when required.  

If you are setting up a temporary prayer area for guests including Muslims, please take a look at our article on Tips for Setting up a Prayer room, to ensure that your space is fit for purpose - alternatively download the guide above as it will give you hints and tips to make the space as comfortable and amenable as possible.

Provision for Wudu

Making suitable provision for ablution before prayer (Wudu) can be more difficult, because the only, likely, existing space with running water suitable for wudu, would be the washrooms; this will require visitors to wash their feet in washbasins, which is not recommended, and also not popular with Health & Safety officials.  

There are some temporary wudu facilities provided by WuduMate, which can be considered, and this specialist company can also provide personal bidets for visiting Muslims to use after visiting the toilet to perform ‘Istinja’, another ablution requirement before prayer.

Portable Wudu Facilities  

Where it is not possible to get easy access to mains water and drainage services, to provide a Wudu facility close to a suitable prayer area, it is possible to take a temporary wudu facility to the prayer area. The WuduMate Mobile is manufactured with integral clean and grey water reservoirs, and can be wheeled for use to a convenient location for Wudu.  

Typical applications could include:-  

• Offices – when a temporary designated prayer area is not close to a usable wudu facility, the WuduMate Mobile can be filled in a bathroom, wheeled close to the prayer area, used to perform wudu, and then taken back to the bathroom for emptying.  

• Hospitals/nursing homes - when patients are unable to get easily to a wudu facility, the WuduMate Mobile could be wheeled to the patient for use in their room.  
   
• Hotels - when too few Muslim visitors justify wudu facilities in each room, the WuduMate Mobile could be wheeled to a Muslim-occupied room whenever required.  
   
• Prisons & Police Stations – when it is inconvenient/unsafe to take a prisoner to a central wudu facility, the WuduMate Mobile can be taken to the prisoner.
   
• Exhibitions/events – when temporary wudu facilities are required, the WuduMate Mobile can be deployed wherever it is needed. This would even allow for wudu facilities where the designated prayer area is outdoors.

If you are planning an event at which you are expecting a significant number of Muslim guests, it is easy to provide for their prayer needs. Please contact WuduMate for any enquiries you have about our products.

This article is one in a series that has been extracted from our booklet DIversity Matters -a guide to Best Practice in the Design of Multi-Faith rooms. You can download the whole booklet, or read other articles in this series here:

• The Challenges of Diversity in the Workplace
• Tips for Designing a Multi-Faith Room
• Ritual Washing in the Workplace
• Personal Washing at Work