What is the ruling on praying in gardens that are irrigated with recycled water from the sewage system?

Question : The questioner, Khalid from Riyadh, says: Honorable Shaykh, we pray in some public gardens, and these gardens are irrigated with water that emits a foul smell. I have learned that this water is filtered from sewage. Please clarify this. May Allah reward you.

Answer : If these farms where you pray are irrigated with water coming from the sewage system, and you find the smell of impurity, then it is not permissible for you to pray on them because they are impure, nor to sit on them while they are wet or while your clothes are wet, because in this case the impurity transfers from the ground to your clothes. However, if the smell is not the smell of impurity or filth, but rather the smell of water or mud rotting, then there is nothing wrong with it, because the rotting of water or mud does not change the water from being pure to being impure. May Allah bless you.