Another class over, I thought as I walked along the dusty alleyway that led from the main school building to the small library and computer centre that was recently built in the headmaster’s front room. It was challenging and demanding to teach children who didn’t speak much English and who were used to the traditional ways of teaching, meaning that they didn’t do much else in the class than read straight from their books. Yet, it was a very rewarding volunteering placement that I had undertaken for a couple of weeks.
I walked past the sheds and tents that were the homes for several hundred people in the village. There were real houses around too, but these were inhabited by people who could afford them and were considered more middle-class by their fellow villagers. The whole village was squeezed into a hundred square metres. There was one building right next to the other, with any blank spaces filled with tents and sheds. There were children running everywhere; mothers cooking by the roadside on natural fire. One could hear the men of the village out in the fields, chopping crops and watering their harvest.
I looked at the roadside. I could see a dwell deep down, in between large bushes of white flowers and a wooden fence. The sound of falling water filled my ears. I looked down even deeper into the dwell and could see that there was a young lady pouring water all over herself. She noticed me looking and smiled.
‘You need water?’ She said in Punjabi.
‘No, no. I was just looking,’ I replied in my broken Urdu.
‘Oh, I am just washing myself before the prayers’, she now said in English.’We need to be clean from top to toe before we praise our Allah’.
‘I see’, I said.’ Sorry to disturb you. I just heard the sound of the water and was curious to see what was going on.’
‘Don’t worry. You know, cleanliness is very important to Muslims. Our Prophet Muhammad used to take a full bath every time he was about to say his prayers. We follow his example. We can also just wash our feet, hands, face and neck. But it is better if you can wash your whole body so I do that.’ The lady smiled a wide bright smile.
I carried on walking towards the library. I could see that even the sheds and the tents were clean. There were brooms next to the front and all the things that one could see were neatly put in their place. Any of the houses that one entered were spotless clean. One housewife had told me the other day that she cleaned the house from top to bottom every day. If she didn’t have the time or the energy, then she would ask a servant to do it for her.
I heard the adhan-prayer call from the nearby mosque. I could see the working men leave the field and to head over towards the mosque. Before entering the mosque, the men stopped at the small dwell right next to the mosque. They took of their shoes and thoroughly washed their hands, feet and faces. They even poured water over their heads in order to wash their hair.
I entered the library. The head master was sitting on his computer.
‘Salaam’, he said as I walked in. ‘Time for chai!’
We sat down on the table in the corner of the room. A servant walked to us with a pitcher of water and a plastic bowl. She poured water over my hands so that I could wash them properly before we had out tea.
The head master looked at me. ‘I bet you are getting used to how clean we Muslims are. There are great benefits when you work in villages and slums. At least you know that people are as clean as they just can be with their facilities. ‘
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More about the washing and cleaning habits of Muslims can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wudu
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