Hyderabad: Shahi Masjid has own rainwater harvesting system

Hyderabad: The Shahi Masjid (royal mosque) at Public Garden is the only mosque in Hyderabad that has a rainwater harvesting system.

Compared to other places of worship, mosques utilise more water as they open five times a day for prayer and worshippers perform ablution before every prayer. It’s compulsory for Muslims to gargle, wash the face, arms and feet before starting namaz.

Muslims are repeatedly advised to be thrifty when using water for ablution or bathing.

However, for ease of ablution, most mosques have installed taps. More water is used if ablution is done with taps than when compared to jugs.

In the Shahi Masjid, a total of 1, 500 worshippers attend prayers five times a day, while about 4,000 worshippers attend the Friday prayers. This means regular worshippers use roughly 7,500 litres daily and on Fridays, roughly 20,000 litres are used. This translates into over 7.5 lakh gallon water per annum on ablution.

In the Shahi Masjid, instead of letting the used water go waste into the drainage system, it is let out in the harvesting pit to recharge the groundwater level. In the open space, there are two pits, one for rainwater harvesting and the other for used water harvesting.

This initiative was taken three years ago by the Minorities Welfare Department at the instance of Imam wo Khateeb of the Masjid, Dr Moulana Ahsan bin Mohammed al-Hamoomi. Moulana Ahsan said that Islam gives priority to protect the environment and teaches its followers not to waste anything.

He said that Islam emphasises the protection of the environment and also prohibits the wasting of resources and their excessive use. Water scarcity and food shortage have become major problems due to excessive use of our resources.

Many cities are facing scarcity of water and due to concrete jungles in cities, ground water levels are declining. Being true followers of Islam, we have to take the initiative to protect our environment, he said.