Capacity of Masjid and Ablution area

Abstract

Islam is the religion of the majority in about 40 countries and almost every other country in the world has a
minority that follows Islam [1]. Comparatively a pretty percentage of Muslims perform their religious duties on a
regular basis, including the five mandatory prayers a day in the Masjid. For Muslims ablution is must before praying.
This is a state for which a person is required to do certain actions in certain order, referred to as ablution process.
Ablution function involves cleaning of certain parts of the body in a certain sequence with clean water. There is always a
portion of the Masjid users who needs to perform ablution before offering prayers. Therefore all over the world, there is
always a need to build Masajid along with their necessities, like ablution spaces. During planning and design stage, the
capacity of a Masjid and its ablution area is generally overlooked. In some cases a fixed ratio is being followed to plan
the capacity of the ablution area. This study is an attempt to prove that such fixed ratios are not applicable on all types of
localities, In fact it vary between urban, rural, commercial, residential and industrial localities. The methodology of
planning the ablution area capacity of a newly planned Masjid has been covered in this study by comparing case studies
of urban residential area and rural residential area.