The bucket list

Lombok Reflections

The bucket list

Just behind the sand and warungs (the name for a local eating place) at my favourite beach here in Lombok, stands a little shed most people wouldn’t even notice.

It is nothing more than sheets of rusted corrugated iron, red and green and silver, nailed together on uneven wooden posts. In front of it is a cement water well open to the elements, a reminder of both life’s sustenance and its fragility. A frayed rope lowers a black bucket into the well. An old man usually hauls it up slowly and pours it into plastic containers. This is where people shower after swimming or make wudu before salaah.

There are no taps, no sinks, no showers with fancy heads, no option of hot water. You crouch down, pull out a bit of foam from a big plastic bucket, and let the water flow into your hands. You scoop it across your face, arms, and feet. It is crude, but it does what it was built for. And in its simplicity, it feels more honest, more connected to the act of worship than any polished bathroom.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“When a Muslim performs wudu and washes his face, every sin he looked at leaves with the water from his face. When he washes his hands, every sin they committed leaves with the water. When he washes his feet, every sin they walked towards leaves with the water, until he emerges purified from sin.”

(Sahih Muslim 244)

Watching people here pour water slowly, you realise there is no rushing. Each drop matters. And in that slowness, you remember that wudu is not just washing the body but shedding sins, preparing to stand before Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ made wudu with only a mudd, the measure of two handfuls of water, and ghusl with just a sa’, four handfuls.

He ﷺ also said:

“Do not waste water, even if you are on the bank of a flowing river.”

(Sunan Ibn Majah 425 – Hasan)

Here, at this beachside station, that sunnah is truly alive. Not by choice, but by necessity. You take only what you need, and nothing more. And in that restraint is a lesson for all of us who so easily waste.

Some might see this shed and think it reflects poverty. No tiles, no mirrors, no lights, nothing fancy in the slightest. But perhaps those who wash here are richer than many of us, because they know gratitude.

Allah says:

“Indeed, Allah loves those who constantly repent and loves those who purify themselves.”

(Surah al-Baqarah 2:222)

Purification here is not just of the body but of the heart. It makes you reflect on how often we complain when the water is not warm enough, or when the facilities are not comfortable. Yet here, people use whatever Allah provides, and they walk to salaah content.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

“Cleanliness is half of faith.”

(Sahih Muslim 223)

Half of faith, fulfilled in a space made of rusted tin and rope.

Half of faith, carried out in the hands scooping from a bucket by the ocean.

And there is another promise that lifts the heart.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

“My Ummah will be called on the Day of Resurrection with bright faces and bright hands and feet from the traces of wudu. So, whoever among you can increase his brightness, let him do so.”

(Sahih al-Bukhari 136, Sahih Muslim 246)

Imagine that. The same water running across your face today, in a simple shed at the beach, will be the very light by which you are recognised tomorrow. SubhanAllah. On that Day, when fear and chaos overwhelm, the believers will shine. They will be known by their Prophet ﷺ, marked by the traces of wudu they performed so many times in this world.

This is the beauty of Islam.

That Allah does not look at where we wash, but how we wash, and with what intention. He does not value marble walls over rusted iron, or silver taps over frayed ropes. He values the heart that bows in humility. And on the Day when nothing will matter except a sound heart, perhaps it will be those who washed in quiet places like this who come to Him in the purest state of all.

That old bucket and rope at that beach is more than just a way to clean.

It is a teacher.

It whispers gratitude, humility, and moderation.

It points back to the Sunnah.

And it reminds you that sometimes, the greatest light is found not in grandeur, but in a bucket of water by the sea.

O Allah, make us among those who purify themselves outwardly and inwardly. O Allah, let our wudu be a means of forgiveness for our sins and a shield for our hearts. O Allah, grant us faces shining with light on the Day of Resurrection, gathered under the banner of Your beloved Prophet ﷺ. O Allah, accept from us even our simplest acts, forgive us our heedlessness, and allow us to enter Jannah among those who are clean, forgiven, and radiant before You. Ameen.