Fox News reported Thursday that Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport will install Muslim foot-washing stations inside its bathrooms, according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Installation of the cleaning stations is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
2+The project is privately funded and estimated to cost around $300,000, according to airport documents. “The project includes adding cleaning stations to existing restrooms on the concourse level in Terminal D: one cleaning station for men in the existing men’s restroom and one cleaning station for women in the existing women’s restroom,” the project details state.
In Muslim tradition, there is a requirement to be pure and cleanse the body. This cleansing, called wudu ablution, involves ritual washing of the hands, face, arms, wiping the head, and washing the feet before entering a place of prayer (a mosque or designated prayer room, as many airports have). According to the report, Muslim travelers had been cleaning their feet and other body parts in regular sinks—creating puddles of water in the bathrooms.
2+The installation of foot-washing sinks (wudu sinks) is designed to prevent water accumulation on regular bathroom floors and protect sink surfaces. Similar low-level sinks and interfaith spaces already exist at other major international airports across the U.S., including Chicago O’Hare.
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport is one of the busiest aviation hubs in the world. “Major American airports like Chicago O’Hare and Indianapolis have had these stations and interfaith rooms for years to handle international traffic in a clean way,” Fornea added.
2+This story comes a week after large protests by Muslim residents in Michigan. At a demonstration organized by Muslims, thousands of residents from the city of Dearborn were seen dressed in radical Muslim attire—calling for the implementation of Sharia law in their place of residence.
Residents took to the streets dressed in black, some with keffiyehs, chanting verses from the Quran. Several women wore niqabs, clothing designed to conceal all parts of a woman, and children, girls, and infants were also seen in this attire. In the crowd, flags of Lebanon, the PLO, and other Arab states could also be seen. According to reports on social media, the crowd also chanted in support of Hamas and Hezbollah.