Mayyah

The spiritual washing up before prayer "wudu" is a natural part of every Muslims life. We pray 5 times a day, and ideally would do the washing up also 5 times a day.
Its refreshing, mood changing and just wonderful. Water "Mayyah in Egyptian Arabic" brings life, Allah mentions in the Quraan that anything alive comes from water. I experienced this myself recently when I was sprouting the fava beans, All I did was soak them in water and cover them in a damp towel for a couple of days, and miraculously the dry lifeless bean became alive and vibrant and started sprouting subhanAllah. Farmers experience this everyday, its just a miracle.

Why am I writing so much about water, is because water is a great blessing, and we waste this blessing everyday when cooking, washing and specially when making wudu, which is something us Muslims do several times everyday.

The sunnah way of washing up before prayer is to use as little water as possible.
I saw a video once of the great scholar Sheikh Murabat Al Hajj making his ablution. I was shocked at how little water he used and how abundant the water seemed and sufficed washing up most of his body. He used maybe half a pitcher filled with water, and that was sufficient. I tried to follow his footsteps which is originally the footsteps of the prophet but I was lazy and just did what most Muslim do. Took the easy way and splashed water all over from the tap, It seems more convenient, I don't have to go fill a pitcher and a plastic tub under me and wash myself that way 5 times a day, it just seemed like too much work. My lower self is weak. what can I say.
But here's a suggestion, Instead of turning on the tap all the way, just turn it to the minimum, and turn it off when there's a big gap between washing body parts, like when washing the face or washing the feet. some people even leave the water on while taking off their socks and then bring their feet up to the basin, what a waste. the least we can do it prepare ourselves for washing up before we head to the basin and turn on the water to waste.

Here are other tips for saving water:

*When showering turn off the shower head when soaping up, or lathering up your hair.
*When washing dishes, rinse the gunk off the dishes first, then turn off the water while soaping the dishes up, then turn it back on for rinsing.

Any more ideas on how to save water are welcome.

This is a good month to start a new habit, and definitely a good month to appreciate water, I am quite thirsty now, and am savoring every drop of water I wasted.

May god forgive our sins.