How UK 'wudu-gate' avoids naming the real environmental culprit

How UK 'wudu-gate' avoids naming the real environmental culprit Khadijah Elshayyal on Wed, 09/02/2026 - 20:24 Our mosque leaders must urgently address the dangers of AI usage, which is heating the planet and further demonising Muslim communities A fountain in the Islamic garden of Cambridge Central Mosque is pictured in 2021 (AFP) On In mid-August, as the UK grappled with its fourth heatwave of the year, news headlines decried the water regulator’s allegedly wasteful use of public funds in its campaign advising Muslims to use less water for wudu, and Asians to reduce water usage when washing rice. It turns out that ferocious heatwaves offer up valuable opportunities for flagging media outlets on slow news days. As is the norm with other manufactured hysterias, “wudu-gate” recycled a years-old initiative to viral effect, through the use of dramatic headlines, head-turning stock images and hyperbolic openers. Language and visuals are powerful tools wielded by the media in shaping and stoking public opinion. When the Telegraph uses phrases like “religious and cultural practices” to inform us that “Asian and Muslim communities have been told to wash their rice and feet less” in a “biza