Toilets in Qatar – lifting the lid on what goes down here

To wee or not to wee?

While this is a rhetorical anatomical question, the where for conducting the necessary is very important, especially if you are travelling or are far from your own toilet.

And, when you are outside of your own country, the where (and even the how) becomes even more critical.

That’s why I’d like to tell you about the toilets in Qatar.

As a Muslim country, I will try to lift the lid on Middle Eastern toilet mysteries and etiquette. I do so, fully appreciating that my own understanding of this will always be limited.

Welcome to the toilets of Qatar

But also, please consider adding “a top toilet tour” to your Qatar holiday itinerary.

You will see why.

I mean, almost two years into my Qatar adventure, I am still on my own “view-the-loo” journey.

My long-drop yardstick for toilets in Qatar

As a matter of context, I share this blog post about loos, lavs, washrooms or whatever you to call “the throne” from a British and South African long-drop perspective. (That’s to say, my expectations are not high!)

In short, this means I try to avoid the need to “spend a penny” when out in South Africa.

I don’t think I need to go into detail, do I?

Surely, I am not the only one who knyps (pinches it all in) till it’s safe to go?  

First impressions count

You get my drift. If the place looks dodge, you move one. It is all a matter of hygiene.

First impressions count.

The first time I set foot in Qatar, I was slack-jawed, dumb stuck by the cleanliness.

No litter, no weeds, just shiny everything, tip-top maintenance …

This included the toilets which, of course, are high priority after a long flight.

So impressed was I with said toilets at Hamad International Airport on 11 February 2022, that I hauled out the cell phone to capture this piece of hygiene heaven.

It is my first picture of our temporary home in the Middle East.

Toilets in Qatar are everywhere

There are toilets everywhere in Qatar – in the shopping centres, sporting events, on the streets, in the parks, museums and all public spaces.

They are plentiful and well signposted. In fact, I don’t think I have ever queued for the loo, not even during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, when the country welcomed close to 3 million visitors.

This norm with large numbers appears to extend to homes too.

I mean, we have three toilets in our apartment and there are only two of us.

It was the same in the high-rise when we first arrived. Three toilets.

Guns and bidets

While toilets in Qatar are generally cleaner, they are also different.

In some cases, very different.

In my limited experience, conventional toilets come with a tank cistern, toilet bowl and a flush mechanism in varying styles and materials.

But in the Middle East and other Muslim countries they also come with the colloquially named “bum gun”.

This handheld bidet is also called a bidet shower or sprayer or shatafa.

Very often, and certainly in fancier places, there’s a bidet (cleaning bowls) with the sprayer.  

The bidet sprayer and bidet are essential in Muslim countries as the Islamic faith expects followers to wash their nether regions in a particular way.

Additionally, I am told that followers are to remain silent while in the toilet and say a prayer while leaving.  

The left hand is used for ablutions using the pressurised spray, which means toilet paper is not necessary.

However, in my experience almost all public toilets come with toilet paper and the spray gun. Muslim friends say the toilet paper is now used like a paper towel to dry one’s private parts. 

I also know that the water cleansing fixture, which originated in France, is often preferred over toilet papers in many parts of the world.

Types of toilets in Qatar

I sometimes think you need a degree to navigate the various toilet types operating in Qatar. This goes beyond understanding the local culture.

I have come across double cyclone flushes, pressure assisted toilets and gravity flush toilets. But this is all unknown ahead of answering nature’s call.

Sometimes the flushing is automatic.

Yep, there have been plenty of surprises along the way.

The learning curve continues outside the toilet cubicle when it comes to washing and drying of one’s hands.

Bathroom blessings

Here many of the soap dispensers and taps are automated. Some of the sensors are hidden which makes for interesting exploratory sessions as I splash and flap in search of said soap or water.

The same can be said of some of the automated driers.

Given that Arabic is read from right to left, taps and the moving thereof are often the other way round to that which I am accustomed.

These operational nuances are all part of the toilet tour charm, along with other bathroom blessings, like the lovely fragrances used, especially in the hotels and upmarket shopping centres.

Oh, and did I mention that many of these public toilets are made of marble!

There are flowers, individual towels and piped music in some of them too.

Most far outdo my own bathroom/s.

Cleanliness is next to godliness

To ensure a high standard of hygiene, public toilets often have dedicated cleaners. This is just as well because sometimes it looks like someone has showered in the toilet (blame it on the bidet sprayer).

There is great attention to cleanliness in Qatar.

Just as the expression that “cleanliness is next to godliness” as the idea of people have a moral duty to keep themselves and their homes clean, so the Islamic faith places high value on cleanliness.  Wudu is a cleansing ritual or ablution that is an important part of purity and cleanliness in Islam before performing worship.

Even the portable toilets used for the big sporting events are kept clean.

And while I have not yet come across any traditional “starting block” toilets (the hole in the ground) in Qatar, I am pretty sure they’d be acceptable to use.

To wee or not to wee?

The answer to this question is now rhetorical in every sense.

Now, knowing the etiquette (oh, I should add, you’ll never share toilets with the opposite sex) and the standard of cleanliness, I happily go to the loo in public places.

But very often it’s just to see, and not wee.