Thinking Islamically About Our Environment

Written by Moeen Ahmad

O humankind! Worship your Lord,who created you and those before you, so that you may
become God-fearing.

(Worship none but) the One who (alone) has made the earth a furnished habitation for you, and
(who alone has made) the heaven a (sheltering) edifice, and who (alone) has sent down from
the sky water,
whereby He brought forth with it the (varied) fruits of (the earth) as a
provision for you.Therefore, you
shall not set up rivals to God when you
know (well that such deities cannot exist) 2:21-22].

IN THESE TWO verses of the Qur'an, Allah Most High is directing

mankind's attention to the factors that sustain our entire existence.

Firstly, our attention is directed to Allah Himself. And we are reminded that He has created us.
He is the One responsible for our very existence and those before us. In worshipping Him, we
are reminded of His presence in our lives, an important cue that helps us do good deeds and
avoid bad ones, even as our alarm clocks help us wake up to study for a test we cannot fail. Our
attention is then shifted toward natural phenomena, such as the lands on which we walk, the
sky which hovers above us, and the water and fruits we consume every day. Interestingly, each
is interrelated: The sky with its protective ozone layer provides just the right atmosphere
necessary for plants on the ground to grow. It also houses rain clouds, from which water-the
source of life-descends
and allows human life to flourish. We cannot function
without water and food, and water and food cannot exist in useful fashion without the earth to
pool and root in, and without the sky's
protective
canopy. And all cannot function together without Allah, the Creator of each and their integrative
world. The linkage between Allah, Most High, and the natural phenomena mentioned in the
verse remains as crucial today as it ever has been in the course of human history. Humans,
especially Muslims, must realize that the environment does not exist independently from the
very mercy of our Creator. The sky and its ozone layer, which we continually desecrate with our
super-efficient pollutants, find themselves under attack by the very humans they protect. Our
toxic waste, which we merrily dump into precious bodies of water, threatens water systems
across the world with destruction. It's as if the entire human race has revolted against the mercy
of Allah
and attacked the very things that sustain our existence. Thinking Islamically about the
environment
means remembering Allah's favor and mercy upon us. It means thinking about nature as an

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Thinking Islamically About Our Environment

Written by Moeen Ahmad

entity in
need of care, and not one we can mechanically manipulate without considering the
consequences of our actions. It means using another blessing of Allah, our intelligence, to come
up with creative and effective solutions to improve the ways in which societies discard their toxic
waste.

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Most of all, it means thinking about natural phenomena as blessings of Allah, and viewing our
care of the environment as a form of ibadah, precisely as these verses instruct us to do. In our
verses above, Allah directs His command to
an-Na
s
, or a
ll people
in general. It is
our
collective duty to
ensure the protection of our environment. It is
our
collective duty to abide by modern mechanisms of curbing pollution and waste, such as
recycling programs and "green campaigns" (and I do not mean the "green" movement that has
been "corporatized" to fool us, as another sales trick), and other valid programs intended to
render energy more efficient. It is an irony of mankind that the

more we know about the nature of the earth, the more we do to destroy it. "Evil has appeared
on land and sea because of what the hands of men have earned...
" [30:41]. Modern scientific knowledge about the earth and the devastating impact humans have
had on it has not
done enough to sway the hearts of the people, Muslim or not, to care for our environment.

On a logical and rational level, we have failed to heed the lessons science has taught and is
continually teaching us about the environment and its rapid deterioration. If anything, then, can
save us, it must be the exhortations of Almighty Allah to pay attention and be mindful of His
many blessings, of which the environment is a part. The blessing and curse of modern
scientific knowledge is that in enlightening humans with knowledge about the natural world,
it's made us more arrogant instead of humble. It's inspired us to experiment recklessly with the
natural world instead of with great care and caution. What is most needed is an infusion of
scientific knowledge with lessons and principles from revelation. We need to recall the origin
and role of the created world before we attempt to manipulate it in our favor. Thinking about

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Thinking Islamically About Our Environment

Written by Moeen Ahmad

nature and the natural world as an inanimate entity independent from any divine order or control
has blinded us from the reality of its essence and role in the lives of human beings. Moreover,
and more importantly,

it's led us into the gross and severe error of separating the created from the Creator. The
ruthlessness and thoughtless disregard with which we treat the environment cannot be
supported by any verse or hadeeth. Only in recalling the origin of our " " order, which is to say,
our "created" order, can we fully understand and implement the blessed command: "
O people! Worship your Lord...

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