Recently, there's been some controversy about Muslim footwashing stations in various countries. I found those pictured in a motorway service station in France. It doesnt seem particularly controversial, a place for people to wash their feet during a long journey. Why don't we have them here?
Muslims want to have them in order to perform wudu (ritual washing) before prayer, five times a day. They wash their face, hands, hair, and feet. The alternative before they were installed was to wash their feet in public sinks. "When you prepare for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands and arms to the elbows rub your heads with water, and wash your feet to the ankles. Later in the same verse it is said that the worshipper may use sand or earth, a ritual known as tayammum, where water is not available, in a desert for example. (Surah 5.7).
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