Westerners may be confused about Middle Eastern customs and how people, men especially, use the ‘squat’ toilet. How we “go” impacts our environment: sit down toilets, and toilet paper consume more resources.
I have received the inquiry below from a Westerner dating a Saudi: ‘I noticed my Saudi boyfriend sits down on the toilet either to urinate or defecate and usually in the West men stand while urinating. I have been too embarrassed to ask him why he does that.’
Here is the answer from my vantage point.
What is wudhu?
Typically, Saudis pray five times a day, and in order for this praying to be accepted, one has to be fully cleaned in terms of the body and cloths. This is why Saudis are raised in a way that encourages them to care about the cleanness of their body and cloths.
Before praying (five times a day), Saudis clean all the parts of their body that are exposed and uncovered (hands, feet and face). It’s called wudu or wudhu. (And yes, you can do wudu sustainably). Saudis always maintain the cleanness of their body, and this is why they sit down while urinating or defecating and, moreover, wash with water their privates.
So, Saudis sit down on the toilet either to urinate or defecate and usually in the West men stand while urinating.
So, Saudis have been raised to maintain a high level of cleanness, which has therefore become part of their character and which might not be understood by their Western partner.
This implies that a Saudi might take a shower after having sex not necessarily because of ideological reasons but because the way s/he has been raised encourages him/her to keep their body cleaned all the time. This also implies that the Saudi skin is used to be exposed to so much water and therefore is less sensitive to it.
Saudi habits in cold countries
It should be mentioned that, in England, for example, it is cold most of the time, and therefore washing with water one’s private after defecating makes this area wet.
In other words, this area does not get dry easily in such a cold weather of England. So, in England, washing with water one’s private after defecating is not a fun experience! Despite this, Saudis living in England still do so.
Yet, in England, toilets do not offer water, which is therefore a problem for Saudis.
Saudis, however, go around this problem by taking a bottle of water with them to the toilet to wash their private after urinating. So, this is clearly a political issue, with some kind of tension between the beliefs of Saudis and the structure of the English toilet.
That is, the structure of the English toilet imposes certain values on Saudis, whereas the beliefs of Saudis encourage them to go around this structure.
Since first meeting with the custom of washing after going to the toilet, I am increasing disgusted by our western custom of smearing it all around with a piece of paper. Most unhygienic for people otherwise obsessed with hygiene.
OK, I can understand reluctance to go Middle Eastern in this respect, but the Japanese have a technological, no-touch solution that seem to me completely appropriate to our concept of hygiene. How is it that it has not taken off, why do we still wipe the stuff, a most unsatisfactory and at most partially successful endeavor?
Because the west are not obsessed with hygiene. In the Middle East not having that obsession in olden days and in some places today can cost you your life.
You stupid people. This is how you should actually pee so that you keep your clothes and body pure. I always sit and pee.
What an interesting “take” on an standard, ISLAMIC practice.
While there may not be any (or very little) medical evidence to support it, answering the call of nature sitting down also reduces the risk of prostrate cancer in men. It is the practice (sunnah) of our Prophet Muhammad (SAV – peace and blessings be upon him), so not only Saudis, but most, if not all, Muslims throughout the world do the same thing.
One would like to remind readers that some homes (and most hotels?) in the West have a “bidet” installed next to the toilet, just for the process of washing one’s private parts. Why not combine them both into the toilet and both save water and porcelain?
The problem of drying the area in question is normally carried out using “toilet paper”, something which is quite common in the West and starting to appear in other parts of the world as we speak…
And toilet paper is not a great thing for the environment.
sometimes people will use washcloths that are only for the purpose of drying oneself after using the toilet. at home, obviously. kind of hard to travel with them.
but, yeah, this article was weird. all muslims are supposed to go to the bathroom sitting down, actually squatting. but certainly not standing up.