(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The first four posts in the Greener Faith series covered environmentalist evangelical Christians, traditional Christians, interfaith campaigns, and Judaism. This final post focuses on Islam.
The right-wing has demanded to know, time and time again: Where are the moderate Muslims?
Maybe they should look under their nose. Or even better yet ask an environmentalist.
Islam isn’t just the world’s fastest growing religion—it may also be the world’s fastest growing environmental movement. According to Professor of Islamic Studies Frederick M. Denny, the Qur’an teaches that all the earth belongs to God and praises God with its very existence, and that animals are people just like humans. “The creation of the cosmos is a greater reality than the creation of humankind (Sura 40:57)… [Humans] share with all animals an origin in the common substance, water (Sura 24:45), and they will return to the earth from which they came.”
In 2009, these verses and more led the Grand Mufti of Egypt to declare that Medina, Islam’s second holiest city, will go green over the next seven years. Citing a “religious duty” and a “moral imperative,” Sheikh Ali Gomaa proclaimed that Medina will offer climate change education, use renewable energy in mosques, improve public transportation, and provide more clean water so that pilgrims don’t use plastic bottles.
In America, the green Islamic movement is well-represented by Green Muslims in the District, which teaches sustainability practices to Washington DC’s Muslim community, including using less water for religious rituals, preparing Ramadan meals with local and organic ingredients, and thinking more about where their consumer goods come from. “In Islam the body is temporary; the soul is what belongs to God. The same can be said of the earth and the resources it provides, they belong to God—not man,” says co-founder Mohamad A. Chakaki. Adds fellow co-founder Sanjana Ahmad, “Get people to think about something they find peaceful and they will automatically talk about something very natural—a sunset, a mountain view, the ocean.”
Even the famous “Ground Zero mosque” is an example of Islam’s greening: it will be the first LEED-certified mosque, the highest green certification a building can achieve.
My hope with this Greener Spirit series has been two-fold. First, it was to show climate deniers that the environmental movement isn’t just stereotypical tree-hugging hippies, and to let skeptics know that there are environmental allies to be found in the faith community. Second, it was to show persons of faith that there are plenty of ways to green a house of worship, from simple acts like changing light bulbs and starting recycling programs to more serious undertakings.
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