Caring for the earth

Have you ever been struck by the beauty of a sunset or been moved almost to tears by the sight of a newborn baby? If you have, then it is not too difficult to understand why Muslims should care for the environment.

Now, before you think I'm going to suggest that you drink only bottled water or green tea, being a friend of the earth is really quite natural for Muslims. In fact, Muslims are the world's first environmentalists, so being young and Muslim should also mean taking a great care and showing great concern for this world in which we live. Taking care of the environment doesn't mean taking up yoga and wearing sandals. It quite simply means thanking Almighty Allah for the gift of His creation to us. Just as we pray five times a day and fast during the holy month of Ramadan, caring for the earth and all that is in it is truly part of being Muslim. We don't need to give this a name, as though it is some special fad we are into, but caring for the environment is just what Muslims should do.

It is quite clear in the Qur'an that [It is Allah Who has created the heavens and the earth and all between them](As-Sajdah 32:4), so as Muslims we respond to His act of creation by looking after the world around us.

You know, when those horrid cartoons of our beloved Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) first appeared in Denmark, many cars and buses owned by Muslims started to display stickers in the back window which said, "I love Prophet Muhammad." Some even said, "We will sacrifice ourselves for you, Prophet Muhammad." I wondered at the time how long such sentiments would last. Talk is very easy.

Those same drivers, prepared to die for the Prophet, were the very ones to throw rubbish out of their windows or to veer across the road in the most dangerous manner. Instead of dying for the Prophet, we should learn to live for him, and we can begin to do that by setting good example. What a terrible example for people who are not Muslim it is to see Muslims throwing rubbish on the ground or driving in a careless way. Didn't our beloved Prophet tell us that removing a stone from your brother's path is a charity? What care we should take, then, of the highways and byways on which we walk.

Of course, we need to believe that Almighty Allah is in control of all things for us to do this. We need to appreciate that He showers blessings upon us all day long in order to be grateful for His mercies to us. Think of all those beautiful natural scenes we see either in real life or on television. Things like mountains and lakes, deserts and prairies, rivers and seas. Think just of the last time you were in a park and were able to feel the grass under your feet or were able to see the variety of flowers and shrubs.

If you were able to do this, you were marveling at Allah's Creation. And just as you bow down in prayer to Allah, so His Creation praises Him night and day. Talking about all the creatures on the earth, the Qur'an says, [they celebrate His praises night and day, nor do they ever flag or intermit](Al-Anbiyaa' 21:20).

In other words, even though we might be late for prayer or might even miss it altogether, the animals and the plants are praising Him all the time, just by the way they move or by the way they look.

It is quite wrong to think that environmentalists are just those people who are crazy about pollution or the right to public pathways. "Saving the Whale" might once have been the pastime of those we looked upon as eccentric, but those people have shown us that animals will disappear from the earth if we don't take some care.

If we really believe that it is Allah's earth, then how could we not be in favor of looking after it? How could we waste water or use things that harm the soil? How could we drop things on the ground or ignore signs to protect the environment? Chopping down trees in great numbers will one day have a bad effect on the earth as a whole. We all know that our constant need for more energy means that we use more and more petrol and cause more and more fumes to go into the atmosphere. We know now, only too late, that a great hole has been made in the earth's ozone layer, which scientists tell us will take up to a thousand years to make up for.

Allah tells us, [Not for (idle) sport did We create the heavens and the earth and all that is in between] (Al-Anbiyaa' 21:16). Allah had nothing to gain by creating the earth. He is perfect and lacks nothing, so He did not need to create the earth at all. If it wasn't created for the sake of idle sport, then, it must have been created for a serious reason. Allah tells us in another place that [I have only created the Jinns and men, that they may serve me](Adh-Dhariyat 51:56).

If someone gives you a gift, wrapped in fancy paper and tied with a bow, I imagine that you take the gift seriously and look after it. I presume that you even look forward to receiving such gifts. What about the gifts that Allah gives us? Are we not to take even more care of them because they are a sign of His love for us? How can we disregard the gift of His Creation?

Muslims, then, should be at the very heart of any group that wants to look after the environment. "Environment" is just another way of saying "creation." If, instead of using the term "environment," we think about the glorious "creation" of Almighty Allah, it makes so much sense that Muslims should be the ones who guard that creation with the greatest care.

Remember, that one of the conditions for Muslims ever taking part in a war is that innocent civilians as well as plants and trees should not be harmed. Plants and trees!

As usual, we are quite poor at getting the message of Islam across. How many people associate Islam with even caring for plants and trees when the television shows them images of violence and carnage? In our modern age, especially in the West where religion is becoming marginalized and made to seem unimportant, many people are not very receptive when we talk about God or religion. Maybe another way of approaching them is to talk about creation. Maybe caring for our environment is a new way in which we can make da`wah and call others to Islam.

 Let us hope that our own good example in caring for the beautiful things of this earth will help others to see that Islam and Muslims care for the earth because it was made by Allah. As Muslims we believe that [with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them but He. He knows what is on land and in sea; not a leaf falls, but He knows it. Not a grain in the deep darkness of the earth, not a thing green or dry but it is in a clear Book] (Al- An`am 6:59). In sha' Allah, as carers for the earth, we will not only give thanks to the One who made it, but we will also tell others about His greatness, too.