What are the ways that Muslims have adapted to when living in the West and toilet facilities consist only of toilet paper? What is the best way to clean oneself in a Western toilet when there is only paper and it is on the right hand side?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Using toilet paper to clean oneself after relieving oneself is permissible provided it completely removes the impurity and provided the impurity has not spread outside its usual place. If the impurity is spread outside its usual place, then all the places where the impurity has spread should be washed with water only.

Al-Buhooti in his book 'Kashshaf al-Qina' when mentioning the occasions when using water becomes compulsory, said: “If the impurity spreads on parts of the body other than its usual place such as when it spreads on the buttocks or penis, then those places should be cleaned only by water.”

The perfect way for cleaning oneself is by removing all the impurity from the place wiping it thrice or more, as Salmaan said: “The Prophet forbade us from facing the Qiblah while relieving oneself, from cleaning ourselves with our right hand, and from cleaning ourselves with less than three stones. We also should not use an impure substance or a bone to clean ourselves.” [Muslim]

If wiping the place three times does not suffice then, it is better to wipe the place with things in odd numbers such as five or seven times. The Prophet said: “Whoever cleans his private parts with stones should do it with odd numbers of stones.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

One must not use his right hand to clean himself regardless of where the toilet papers are placed, for the above Hadeeth.

Finally, we thank the questioning brother for his great concern for his religious matters since neglecting such matters may expose him to the severe threat that was mentioned in the Hadeeth where the Prophet informed about two persons: “They are being punished. But they are not being punished for a great matter (on their part). One of them did not clean himself from urine and the other used to spread slander.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Also, it is obligatory to use water in the two following cases:

1- Discharging preseminal fluid (Madhi). ‘Ali said: “I was a man who was discharging Madhi too much and I used to be very shy from asking the Prophet, due to the status of his daughter with me (i.e Faatimah, daughter of the Prophet whom ‘Ali married) so I asked Miqdaad ibn Al-Aswad to ask him, so he did so and the Prophet said: “He should wash his penis and perform ablution.” [Muslim]

2 - Ejaculation of semen (Maniyy: it is a thick white fluid emitted by the male or female as a result of sexual ejaculation.): the Prophet said: “Water is from water (i.e. Ghusl -ritual bath -is obligatory when there is ejaculation of sperm.” [Muslim]

Allaah Knows best.