Muslim toilet etiquette

[LoopyLoopsOlympicHoops]

Please explain to me a few things. With the water hose thing, how do people dry themselves? There is rarely any paper.

My landlord (lady actually I presume) left, amongst other things, disposable knickers in the bathroom. Is this common or quirky?

The squatting on the toilet seat thing. Footprints. Why?

Sorry, I sound so intolerant today - don't mean to be, just flummoxed. :)

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

I'm not upset, it's MNHQ who put the zombie thread warning on old posts not me. I just thought it was a bit odd that so many posts from one specific year have been revived this weekend.

[TheHoneyBadger]

the person who recently posted.

sorry you are upset by people not doing what you'd rather them do.

it's blumming horrific not being god eh?

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

would you rather they started a new thread every time?

Yes I would. Who are you even answering? The OP stopped being interested in replies 3 years ago.

[TheHoneyBadger]

maybe because they are a topic that keeps coming up? would you rather they started a new thread every time?

i live in egypt, a predominantly muslim country, and have wondered the same about drying before to the extent of asking a (now ex) boyfriend. but actually it wasn't that relevant to him as it would only apply when having a bowel movement which isn't as freqent and to be honest your bum doesn't hold onto water in quite the same way as a woman gets wet after every single wee from washing.

i have resorted on occasion and suspect others do to washing with the water (we have the back of the loo squirter at home but most public loos have the hose) and then using your dry left hand to dry off somewhat and then washing your hands.

i like the water wash but, like most locals who can afford loo paper, prefer a good dry off with paper after. here bins are provided beside the toilet everywhere as there is tourism and the back of most toilet doors have a sign saying 'please do not put any paper etc down the toilet but use the bin provided'. sadly they don't put that in arabic and nowadays the only back up flooding problems we have are during muslim holiday periods where people flood in from the city and are not aware you can't flush paper down the loo here without eventually causing raw sewage to flood up from the drains in the street - nice.

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

Why do people keep reviving zombie threads from 2012? This is the fourth one I've seen this weekend.

[Laptopwieldingharpy]

#yearofthegoat# absolutely. They are far more intimidating.
They should draw a target so you know where to sit exactly. You never know where its going to flow!

[yearofthegoat]

Can I derail to ask about Japanese toilets? I was too much of a coward to try out the array of different buttons on the side of our toilet in Tokyo, but it looked like you could be washed, buffed and blown dry. Has anyone tried them?

[MyFriendsCallMeOh]

Read the thread before you ask a question that's already been answered...

[panderscool]

wow why always make it bloody religious, thats why we are at war so often. the simple question is like a was wondering in Malaysia recently, most toilets had a sit down toilet but a hose and no toilet paper, what do the locals do, BYO arse towel or toilet paper, or walk around with wet arse and underwear? Simple question no religion involved. and the poster that keeps trying to put a muslim islam is tread on it please dont reply

[dtangmo]

Hi all,

The reality is that learning to use the bum gun or even a bucket will set you free. Here is a really useful non-denominational tutorial on how to use a squat toilet.

thailandclimbing.com/climbing-adventures/adventurer-s-guide-to-chiang-mai/how-to-use-a-squat-toilet

Good luck out there.

[lottiegarbanzo]

The bum towel! Thus this thread solves a mystery (from a 'what's the oddest thing that's happened to you when visiting someone else's house' thread a few months ago). Visitor moving to dry hands on 'hand towel', told 'no! That's the bum towel', mystified.

[lulalullabye]

Wouldn't it be nice to live in a world where people could discuss anything, even slightly religious topics openly without it becoming a bun fight!

[HildaHotPants]

To be honest, I never used towels when out, that's what shorts are for!

[LoopyLoopsOlympicHoops]

I have another question too. If you use someone's bathroom and there are more than one towel, how do you know which is safe to use for your hands?

[HildaHotPants]

One more slight query, is the squirting done when in the seated position? Or do you have to hover up a bit.

I'm not ever likely to use one again (poor people now) as exotic holidays are not something I will be able to do, but just interested

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

You don't really need to dry your bum as much as you'd think. The muslim showers, or "bum guns" as they are known by expats in the UAE, squirt out a single jet of water, and the idea is to adjust the pressure so you basically jet wash your butt. Assuming your aim is good, minimal drying is required- the water doesn't really get on your butt cheeks or anything.

The other great thing about them is that if you turn the pressure right up, you can use them to clean the whole bathroom- just spray Mr Muscle liberally, wait 5 mins and pressure hose it off (bathrooms in the Middle East have floor drains).

Caution: In the middle east in summer, test the temperature before applying bum gun to butt- there have been incidences of scorching when the bum gun is getting fed from a metal water tank sat on the top of the building in 50 degree heat.

The squatting on the seat of a western style toilet is annoying- is also not uncommon in HK to come into the office bathroom to find footprints on the loo seat. I am impressed by their balance though.

[fernzmal]

Glad to be of help. I reread the thread (sorry, was a bit sleepy when I read it last night and missed a lot of things) and I notice you're in Bangsar! I'm guessing you do your shopping at Bangsar Village? And I guess you passed by the Bangsar mosque? :D By the way, just wanted to add that practically all of the shopping centres in KL have prayer rooms for Muslims to pray. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!~

[LoopyLoopsOlympicHoops]

Oh fernzmal, thank you so much for your post, it really helped. The leaving the mosque thing was a Friday, so that makes sense. Thank you :)

[fernzmal]

ForFoxsGlacierMints, I am impressed by the detailed thoroughness of that article...I don't know how to use a squat toilet properly...

[fernzmal]

I could not help but to notice this topic! I am a Malaysian Muslim, and while I can't really answer the OP's original questions as I use both a bum-spray thing AND toilet paper, I don't know what the disposable knickers are for, and squatting on western-style toilet seats is just downright rude and uncivilised even in Malaysia (I assume the OP was talking about western-style toilets when she mentioned the footprints thing, otherwise if it's the old-stylee asian hole in the floor then obviously there would be footprints...) although lots of people do it, there are a couple of things that i just had to respond to...
The left hand is always for the toilet, and the right hand is for eating with. Makes sense not to cross-contaminate :D
Muslim women are definitely allowed in mosques, but they are usually separated in the womens section while the men pray in the mens section. BUT Friday prayers in mosques are compulsory ONLY FOR MEN (this is usually around 1.30pm in Malaysia), so this might explain one of the mners noticing only men coming out of that mosque that day?
Just fyi, I would think that different Muslim countries conduct weddings differently, especially as there are two different branches of Islam, Sunni and Shia, much like Catholics and Protestants etc etc. In Malaysia, Muslim men and women celebrate weddings together, and are not separated by gender, altho perhaps for solemnisations that happen to take place in a mosque, the men may sit together in a group and the women sit together. But after that they would go and eat together.
As for the women in the mall, it sounded like they were indeed performing ablutions for prayers, perhaps there is a small prayer room somewhere nearby.
HTH

[MrsBucketxx]

flippin heck loopy what a hoo ha about nothing.

if mn really thought it was racist the thread would have been pulled by now.

[OwlLady]

I apologise, I am guilty of skim reading

[OwlLady]

worse than wales?

[maybenow]

nobody has a problem with washing bums, in fact the OP and almost everybody else on this thread thinks it's a good idea, they just don't know how you dry your bum after...