Performing tayammum when water is far away at work

Question

I am working a night shift here in Canada and here there is no facility of water! So for doing Wudu I have to drive 6-7 minutes to go back to my home and then do wudu and come back again driving 6-7 minutes! My question is am I allowed to do tayammum here? Or I need to drive back home and then do wudu!

— Nadeemwaris Patel, Canada

Answer

It is surprising that a first world country such as Canada has no water in or around the workplace especially when it is written in the Canadian occupational health and safety regulations that:

“Every employer shall provide potable water for drinking, personal washing and food preparation that meets the standards set out in the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality 1978, published by authority of the Minister of National Health and Welfare.”*

There not being a specific facility to perform wuḍū’ is of no consequence as long as water is accessible because wuḍū’ does not require a specific facility for it to be performed.

This being said, if it truly is the case that there is no water available within a radius of one mile from your workplace, then you are permitted to perform tayammum when at work. Allāh, the Exalted, states:

وَ اِنْ كُنْتُمْ مَّرْضٰۤى اَوْ عَلٰى سَفَرٍ اَوْ جَآءَ اَحَدٌ مِّنْكُمْ مِّنَ الْغَآىٕطِ اَوْ لٰمَسْتُمُ النِّسَآءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوْا مَآءً فَتَیَمَّمُوْا صَعِیْدًا طَیِّبًا [الآية]

“And if you are ill, or on a journey, or one of you came from relieving oneself, or you had relations with women, and you did not find water, then perform tayammum with clean soil…”

[Sūrah Mā’idah, Verse 6]

Being at a distance of one mile from water in all four directions permits you to perform tayammum, even if you are in the city. It is stated in al-Hindiyyah:

يجوز التيمم لمن كان بعيدا من الماء ميلا هو المختار في المقدار سواء كان خارج المصر أو فيه وهو الصحيح وسواء كان مسافرا أو مقيما

“Tayammum is permitted for the one who is at a distance of one mile from the water - this is the preferred opinion regarding the distance - whether the individual is outside the city or inside the city - and this is the correct opinion - whether the individual is a traveller or a resident.”

[al-fatāwā al-hindiyyah, kitāb al-ṭahārah, bāb al-tayammum]

Allāh, the Exalted, knows best.

*Taken from the justice laws website

Faqīr Sohel al-Qādirī · (May he be forgiven) · Dhū al-Ḥijjah 6, 1445

Verified by Muftī Faizān al-Muṣṭafā al-Qādirī