In the name of Allah, the Most-Merciful, the All-Compassionate
"May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon You"
Praise be to Allaah, we seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds.
Whomsoever Allaah guides will never be led astray, and whomsoever
Allaah leaves astray, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no
god but Allaah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and
Messenger.
Bismillah Walhamdulillah Was Salaatu Was Salaam 'ala RasulillahAs-Salaam Alaikum Wa-Rahmatullahi Wa-Barakatuhu Muslim bathroom etiquette
First of all, we must thank you for you concern about the feelings of Muslims and your efforts to find out what may offend them so that you may avoid it. We are happy to provide you with a detailed answer to your question and more, in the hope that it may open the way to great good for you. Among the signs of the greatness of the blessed Islamic sharee’ah is the fact that there is no good thing, major or minor, that it has not commanded us to do or pointed the way to it, and there is no bad thing, major or minor, that it has not warned us against or forbidden. It is perfect and complete in all aspects, a fact which has often greatly astonished non-Muslims and earned their admiration. (At the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)), one of the mushrikeen (polytheists) said to (the Prophet’s Companion) Salmaan al-Farsi (may Allaah be pleased with him): “Your Prophet has
taught you everything, even how to defecate!” Salmaan said: “Yes, he
forbade us to face the qiblah when urinating or defecating…” (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, no. 16; he said it is a saheeh hasan hadeeth; also reported in Saheeh Muslim and elsewhere). Islamic sharee’ah includes a number of rules and manners to be followed when answering the call of nature, including the following: 1: Not to face the qiblah (direction of prayer, i.e. the Ka’bah which was
built in Makkah by Ibrahim, upon whom be peace, as commanded by Allaah) when urinating or defecating. This is out of respect for the Qiblah and for the symbols and rituals of Allaah.
The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “
When any one of you sits down to answer the call of nature, he should not face the qiblah or turn his back towards it.” (Reported by Muslim, 389).
2: He should not touch his penis with his right hand when urinating, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “
When any one of you urinates, he should not hold his penis in his right hand or clean it with his right hand; and (when drinking), he should not
breathe into the vessel.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 150).
3: He should not remove najaasah (impurity) with his right hand; the left hand should be used for this purpose, because of the hadeeth quoted above, and because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When
any one of you wipes himself, he should not use his right hand.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 5199).
The Prophet’s wife Hafsah (may Allaah be pleased with her) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
used
to use his right hand for eating, drinking, making wudoo’, getting dressed, and giving and taking things, and he used to use his left hand for other things. (Reported by Imaam Ahmad; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 4912).
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “
When any one of you cleans himself, he should not use his right hand, he should use his left hand.” (Reported by Ibn Maajah, 308; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 322).
4: The Sunnah is to answer the call of nature sitting, making oneself close to the ground, because this is more concealing, and makes it less likely that spray from one's urine will come back on one’s body or clothes, making them dirty. If a person can be sure of avoiding this, then it is permissible to urinate standing up.
A person should be concealed from the sight of others when answering the call of nature.
The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to prefer to go behind a rise in the ground or a garden of date palms. (Reported by Muslim, 517).
If a person is out in an open space and cannot find anything to conceal
him when he needs to answer the call of nature, he should move far away from the other people around him, because al-Mugheerah ibn Shu’bah said: “I was with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
on a journey, when he felt the need to answer the call of nature, so he went far away.” (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, 20; he said it is a saheeh hasan hadeeth).
Abd-Allaah ibn Abi Quraad said: “
I went out with the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to an open space, and when he needed to answer the call of nature, he moved away.” (Reported by al-Nisaa’i, 16; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 4651)
5: A person should not uncover his ‘awrah (private parts) until after he
has squatted close to the ground, because this is more concealing, as Anas (may Allaah be pleased with him) reported: “
When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) wanted to answer the call of nature, he would not lift his garment until he had squatted close to the ground.” (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, 14; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 4652).
If a person is in a (modern) toilet, he should not lift his garment until
he has closed the door and is out of sight of other people. With regard to this point and the one before, it is worth noting that the habit of many people in the West and elsewhere, of urinating in a standing position in front of other people in public toilets (using urinals) is something which goes against good manners, modesty and decency, and is repulsive to anyone who possesses sound common sense and wisdom. How can anybody uncover in front of other people the ‘awrah (private parts) which Allaah has placed between his legs to conceal it and commanded him to cover it? The idea that it should be covered is well established among all wise and decent people of all races. It is wrong in principle to build restrooms of this shameful type, where the users can see one another, thus making them worse than some kinds of animals whose habit is to conceal themselves from one another when urinating or defecating.
6: It is also good manners according to Sharee’ah to recite certain
adhkaar (supplications) when entering or leaving the toilet, which are quite appropriate to the situation and place.
Our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught us that when entering the toilet, we should say: “
Allaahumma innee a’oodhi bika min al-khubthi wa’l-khabaa’ith (O Allah, I seek refuge with You from male and female devils).”
When leaving the toilet, he should say:
“Ghufraanak (I seek Your forgiveness) .”
He should be careful to remove all impurity after answering the call of
nature, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) warned against being careless in cleaning oneself after urinating: “
Most of the punishment of the grave will be because of urine.” (Reported by Ibn Maajah, 342; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 1202).
Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with them both) reported that the
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) passed by two graves, and said: “
They are being punished, but they are not being punished for any major sin. One of them used not to protect himself (i.e. keep himself clean from) his urine, and the other used to walk about spreading malicious gossip.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 5592).
7: Any impurity should be washed or wiped three times or an odd number of times greater than three, according to whatever is needed to cleanse it, because ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
used to wash his posterior three times. Ibn ‘Umar said: “
We did this too and found it to be healing and cleansing.” (Reported by Ibn Maajah, 350; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 4993).
Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“When anyone of you cleans himself (with stones or similar material) let him use an odd number.” (Reported by Imaam Ahmad; classed as hasan in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 375).
8: He should NOT use bones or dung to clean himself or wipe away the
impurity, rather, he should use tissue, stones, and the like.
Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) reported that he used to
carry a vessel for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to do wudoo’ and clean himself after answering the call of nature. Whilst he was following him, he (the Prophet) asked, “Who is that?” He said: “I am Abu Hurayrah.” He said: “Get me some stones I can use to clean myself, but do not bring me any bones or dung.” So I brought him some stones, carrying them in the hem of my garment, and placed them by his side, then I went away. When he had finished, I came back and asked him, “What is wrong with bones and dung?” He said: “
They are the food of the jinn.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 3571).
9: A person should not urinate into stagnant water, because Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
forbade anyone to urinate into stagnant water (reported by Muslim, 423), and because this makes the water impure and harms those who use it.
10: A person should not urinate by the roadside or in places where people seek shade, because this is offensive to them.
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Fear the two things that bring curses.” They asked,
“What are the two things that bring curses, O Messenger of Allaah?” He said: “
When a person relieves himself in the road where people walk or in the place where they seek shade.” (Reported by Abu Dawud, 23; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 110).
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Subject: Muslim Bathroom Etiquette + Toilets Facing the Qiblah 
