Safety Overview of Ablution Spaces in the UAE Mosques: A Randomised Survey in Three Cities

This study examines the current conditions of the prevailing ablution spaces in mosques as a viewpoint of prayers' convenience and care practices. Randomly selected thirty mosques from the Dubai, Sharjah, and Ajman City regions were participated in this study. Overall comfort and care features of the ablution spaces were evaluated by two main aspects: wellbeing and general safety factors. The wellbeing aspects include wheelchair accessibility, shoe rack areas, clothing hangers, and equipment storages whilst the general safety ones contain handrails, anti-slip mats, and drainage covers. Collected data clearly show that most of the partaken mosques provide accessible facilities for the wheelchair prayers. Whilst most of the mosques did not provide other wellbeing featured facilities such as shoe racks, clothing hangers, and equipment storages. This study also found that most of the safety features were not provided in the sampled mosques. Although covered drainages are made available by most mosques, handrails and anti-slip mats are hardly provided by the mosques. This study assessed a limited number of ablution spaces around the three major cities of the UAE, but overall findings clearly identify that the present conditions of the existing ablution spaces in mosques appear to be not ideally safe and comfortable environments. Therefore, this study suggests that all the mosques should consider installing such care and comfort facilities in their ablution spaces to enhance safety and wellbeing for the prayers and visitors of the mosque.