Earth Day – April 22, 2008
I have been looking for a Muslim organization that does environmental stewardship. A grass root effort to save and protect the environment from Islamic perspective. I didn’t have any success searching for a grass root Muslim environmental organization. I even talked with folks at ISNA about starting or including programs on environmental stewardship in the annual conference. There are so many miles between NYC and Chicago and I didn’t find environmental issues on the priority list (or maybe that’s the impression I got). Plus, I could not find any Muslim organization that is thinking green (except for the fundraisers). Well! it is somewhat reasonable to think that American Muslims have more worries from Patriot Act then environmental crisis – or at least that’s what I hear “Faraz, go hug a tree” 
In the last decade or so I have read many articles and a few books by Muslim thinkers portraying the environmental crisis and the Islamic solution to these horrible pollution problems. However, much of the writing and thoughts related to environmental protection is ink on paper, a paper tiger. It is not a pragmatic effort but rather free floating ideas without any real world solution. For example, one scholar in Islamic studies said that Quran forbids pollution 1400 years ago with a prohibition on wastage (israf).
“O Children of Adam! wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters (Quran 7:31).”
Then the scholar said if we stop wasting we will never have the pollution problem.
I grabbed my head and said so that’s the million dollar answer! Why couldn’t I think of that…
Great! cheap and simple but how do we stop people from wasting resources? What is excess? What do we do with the existing heaps of trash? What about radioactive trash from the nuclear facilities? What about toxic chemicals? What about green house effect and the depletion of the ozone layer? How do we solve the crises at hand? …
You get the point. We are simply using rhetoric to say Islam is the solution but we have not worked out any details. Since environmental science has been my passion as a Geologist/Wetland Scientist, I feel that a core group of Muslim environmentalist can take a lead in developing real world solutions.
I feel very strongly about making a difference in the environmental field from an Islamic perspective. For this reason, on Earth Day I will be launching an organization to promote environmental stewardship via education. In the coming days I will be involved in public awareness projects on the environmental issues and will need your support.
I am looking for few good Muslims for the Environment!
comments/questions?
