Islam and Ecological thinking
By Mohammed Zuhair E
Religions and faith-based organizations are acting a major role in maintaining nature, resources, and sustainability. These institutions are standing as a safeguard of nature and motivating people to treat the environment healthy. They contribute short and long prescriptions and solutions for the problems that are threatening the natural environment. Islam is also concerned with ecology and the natural environment. According to Islamic believes it is Allah the Almighty who created the earth and universe. Allah says “It is God, who made for you the earth a place of settlement and the sky, a ceiling and formed you.” Allah has some meanings and purposes behind the creation of this environment and it includes the establishment of his divinity, highness, and superpower in the universe. He says that divinity or the divine metacosam can be reflected in both the microcosm like man, animal and plant and the macrocosm like the earth and universe for those who think. That is why Allah said in the Holy Quran to examine the man, animal, and nature to find out and experience his divinity.
Human beings, his major creation, are sent as his representatives on the earth. He says, Lo! I am about to place a viceroy on earth (Al-Baqara, 2:30). Since we all are his representatives sent to the earth, he gave preferences for us upon other creatures and considered them as the first and foremost beneficiaries of the Universe. Giving the first preference is not about giving the license to harm the natural environment. But it was the license to act and live responsibly and maintain nature as he created since we are only the thinking animals. Allah, the one who knows more about his creatures in full sense, has realized that equilibrium could be maintained if a man proposes a harmonious and peaceful life in the universe. The overconsumption, overexploitation, overuse of resources and irresponsible way of life make the human and the natural environment at risk. And these were strictly prohibited in Islam. Allah has clearly stated that he does not like over consumers. Through the prohibition of overexploitation what Allah the almighty expects is not to harm the natural environment. This stand is pure because of what Islam thinks about nature. That is why Prophet Muhammed said if you are taking ablution from a river, do not use more water. See the beauty of a religion that strictly prohibits overconsumption of water even for a sacred thing like vuzu which is mandatory for many things like performing namaz, reciting holy Quran and tawaf.
The meaning of being a Muslim is leading a life having love and fear of Allah in his whole life span. The eternal warmth of paradise is reserved for them. The initial thing to be a thaqi or pious man is love and care for all His creatures. That is why Islam revitalized love, amity, and brotherhood. Islam realized that wherever is that warm feeling and intimacy there is togetherness and wherever is togetherness there is power and that power leads humans to love and fear of Allah. So one of the basic things a Muslim needs is love to all. This love and care are not limited in mankind but flows to nature and the universe. So a Muslim lives responsibly caring the nature, loving the environment and preserving the ecology.
Prophet Muhammed himself was an environmentalist who loved nature and taught his companions to admire nature. One of the famous comments made by him “If it is the last day of life and you have a small plant, make sure you plant it” tells us how much he bothered about the natural environment. Also his advice, for his companions, while they go for war against those who attacked them continuously and made hurdles in preaching the Islamic teachings, is notable. He advised not to cut the trees and not to peel on the blossoming trees.
One of the stories from his life underlines his love for birds and animals. The story is as follows. Once a man came to Prophet carrying a box. The box contained some caged baby birds. He narrated the whole story to Prophet. Meanwhile, the mother bird came fluttering around his head. Seeing what happened, the Prophet advised him to put down the baby birds. Immediately after doing that the mother bird joined with them happily. Looking at that surprised companion prophet asked “Are you surprised by the affection of the mother towards her young? I swear by Him (Almighty Allah) who has sent me, surely, God is more loving to his servants than the mother to these young birds. Return these baby birds to the place from where you took them, and let their mother be with them.” In another context, the Prophet said that “Whoever kills a small bird for no reason, it will beseech Allah on the day of resurrection saying: O lord so and so killed me for no reason. And he did not kill me for any beneficial purpose.” And that kind of love of nature and environment made him stated that it is prohibited to cut trees and plants, kill any animals and seize a person’s pride in his two centers, Makkah and Madeena. He wanted both to be a place of calm, peace, care and love.
Abu Huraira, one of the companions of Prophet Muhammed known for his prolific narration of Hadith (Prophetic traditions) and companionship with the prophet, the name itself means father of kittens. He was very fond of animals especially cats and kittens. He titled with such a name after he cut his shirt for a kitten sleeping in his dress. He gained this kind of love and affection from the companionship of Prophet Muhammed.
According to Quranic verses, it is human beings caused by the degradation of the natural environment. His greed and ignorance lead to major environmental problems, such as the destruction of natural habitats, loss of biodiversity, climate change, and erosion of soil. Quran insists that these environmental challenges are indicators of a moral and ethical crisis. Instead of protecting nature, saving the ecosystem, ensuring a sustainable civilization humans overexploited by overconsumption. Quran says “Corruption has appeared on earth and at sea because of what the hands of men have wrought; so that God may make them taste the consequences of their actions; so that they might return”. (Al-Rum, 30:41)
All I want to say is that Islam has concerned about the natural environment, motivated to maintain the equilibrium and ordered at least do not to destroy it by overuse and overexploitation. All Islamic preachers and propagators preached the love of mankind and nature. From the history of centuries, nobody can see a prophet sent by Allah or Pious (Zahid) lived harming nature rather they lead a harmonious life with nature. The different organizations established in the different parts of the world from the core ideology of Islam had taken initiatives to preserve the nature like Sanusi movement of Libya. Many Islamic governments of Muslim countries had implemented projects influencing Quranic teachings and Prophetic traditions. One of the best practices to conserve nature is founded in Indonesia where it is inspired by faith. Along with all these, we can see the hundreds of Muslim scholars who committed their lives to nature. Islam views that earth will be saved from humans if humans start living with a holistic spiritual view presented by the Holy Quran and Prophetic traditions towards mankind, earth, and cosmos.
