What is the ruling on praying in public parks that are irrigated with sewage water?
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Question:
In the desire to cooperate in righteousness and piety, and out of concern for our Muslim brothers, I present to Your Eminence the fact that public parks and gardens are irrigated with filtered sewage water, and the smell and taste are present in the water and in the soil. Many of the people who frequent these places perform their prayers there, and this matter is hidden from them. Is the area considered pure in this state, or is it impure? If it is the latter, we request that you issue an order to the municipality to place signs in multiple languages distributed among the parks irrigated with this water, explaining this matter to the people. Also, the general workers in the carpentry and painting workshops and car maintenance shops use daily newspapers that contain verses from the Noble Qur'an and some of the names of Allah the Exalted. And so on?
Answer:
We wrote in the past Friday, or the one before that, we wrote to the authorities regarding this. May Allah benefit you. We wrote to the authorities to take care of the water, and that it should not be irrigated with anything but pure water. And whoever is ordered to pray there, if he finds that he needs to pray, he must spread something, such as a prayer mat or other pure items, so that he prays on it as long as there is a smell, for the smell is evidence of the remaining impurity. The one who prays there should have something between him and the ground, such as a mat or a prayer rug or something thin. Then, it is not permissible to pray there; it is obligatory to pray in the mosques. It is not permissible for men to pray in the parks; they must pray with the women in the mosques, praying in congregation. But if it happens that he misses the prayer or something, he should place something between him and the ground, or go to his house and pray. As for ground where impurity and a foul smell have appeared, one does not pray on it. And we have written to the municipality regarding this, may Allah make them take the necessary measures.
In the desire to cooperate in righteousness and piety, and out of concern for our Muslim brothers, I present to Your Eminence the fact that public parks and gardens are irrigated with filtered sewage water, and the smell and taste are present in the water and in the soil. Many of the people who frequent these places perform their prayers there, and this matter is hidden from them. Is the area considered pure in this state, or is it impure? If it is the latter, we request that you issue an order to the municipality to place signs in multiple languages distributed among the parks irrigated with this water, explaining this matter to the people. Also, the general workers in the carpentry and painting workshops and car maintenance shops use daily newspapers that contain verses from the Noble Qur'an and some of the names of Allah the Exalted. And so on?
Answer:
We wrote in the past Friday, or the one before that, we wrote to the authorities regarding this. May Allah benefit you. We wrote to the authorities to take care of the water, and that it should not be irrigated with anything but pure water. And whoever is ordered to pray there, if he finds that he needs to pray, he must spread something, such as a prayer mat or other pure items, so that he prays on it as long as there is a smell, for the smell is evidence of the remaining impurity. The one who prays there should have something between him and the ground, such as a mat or a prayer rug or something thin. Then, it is not permissible to pray there; it is obligatory to pray in the mosques. It is not permissible for men to pray in the parks; they must pray with the women in the mosques, praying in congregation. But if it happens that he misses the prayer or something, he should place something between him and the ground, or go to his house and pray. As for ground where impurity and a foul smell have appeared, one does not pray on it. And we have written to the municipality regarding this, may Allah make them take the necessary measures.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ ابن باز Alsheikh Binbaz»، 165 ما حكم الصلاة في الحدائق العامة التي تسقى بماء الصرف؟ للإمام ابن باز — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.