{"id":177,"date":"2009-01-04T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-04T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/islam-and-the-environment-a-co.html"},"modified":"2009-01-04T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-04T16:00:00","slug":"islam-and-the-environment-a-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/islam-and-the-environment-a-co.html","title":{"rendered":"Islam and the Environment: A Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently at Talk Islam<\/a>, we’ve been having a discussion about the Islamic attitude toward environmental conservation. It started when blogger Umar Lee, an anti-conservationist, posted this entry<\/a> at his blog. When Talk Islam blogger Thabet called Lee’s attitude “ignorance dressed up as piety”, the following debate<\/a> ensued:<\/p>\n

Willow: <\/b>Yup. I find it especially sad considering “those who spoil the
\nearth” are mentioned time and again in the Quran as being among the
\nunjust.<\/p>\n

Oh well.<\/p>\n

Umar: <\/b>Well, the point is,. that thee are many things that Greens support
\nthat are not conducive to Muslim lifestyles. “Zero Population Growth”
\nand international family planning are central to green efforts and that
\nis not very family friendly or in line with the sunnah as we have been
\nordered to increase. This also puts many greens in line with many
\neugenicists and white racists who fear the population growth amongst
\ncertain groups and see it as a threat to the status quo. <\/p>\n

Willow we should preserve the creation of Allah and use it for our
\nbenefit; but not worship it as many do. Animals are to be used for the
\nbenefit of humanity and eaten and not gawked at and to be called “mans
\nbest friend” or what not.<\/p>\n

As for gas guzzlers well they may not be the best but I can think of
\nmany other things that people on the left are normally silent about
\nthat are much worse and kill a lot more humans a lot faster ( such as
\nalcohol, drugs, pornography, and deviant sexual behaviors). There is
\nalso the fact that if you are a large Muslim family what are you
\nsupposed to drive around in? A mini cooper? <\/p>\n

Thabet you are taking the tone of the condescending arrogant left
\nwho believes that anyone who disagrees with them is ignorant and that
\nis part of the reason so many Americans vote against their own economic
\ninterests.Because, like me, they see the artificiality and shallowness
\nof the Woody Allen, latte, tofu, and gentrification set who are all
\nworked up over green issues but could care less about the poor people
\nthey displace in their own communities.<\/p>\n

Willow: <\/b>In order to preserve it, we can’t corrupt it. You’re creating a
\nfalse dichotomy-as if there are only two choices: dominate the earth (a
\nChristian concept, not an Islamic one) or worship it (a pagan concept,
\nnot an Islamic one). The Quran and hadith are very clear about the
\ncustodianship of the earth. We’re not allowed to hunt for sport; only
\nto feed ourselves. We’re not allowed to pollute the drinking water or
\nfarmland of others. In Bukhari there is even a hadith in which the
\nProphet rebukes one of his followers for setting fire to an anthill
\ninstead of moving his resting-place away from it. <\/p>\n

You’re using stereotype and ridicule instead of an argument based on
\nthe sunnah. Show me where the Prophet negligently wasted natural
\nresources, and then we can have a debate. <\/p>\n

Furthermore, on a practical level it should be evident to anyone
\nthat oil wealth and the political struggle for oil are helping to
\ndestroy the Muslim Middle East. You’ve spoken recently about
\nGaza-imagine how the political geography would be different if Saudi
\nArabia was not in the US’s pocket. <\/p>\n

“Be merciful to the earth, so the One above the heaven will be merciful to you.” -ahadith of al Tabarani and al Hakim<\/p>\n

Thabet: <\/b>Umar,it may help you feel good about yourself to paint me as a tofu
\neating, latte drinking, sandal wearer, but you are simply relying on a
\npersonal prejudice against “greens” dressed up in the language of
\nreligion or populism (as you do above). That is why I called your post
\n‘ignorant’.<\/p>\n

As Willow says, you have created a false dichotomy. I think you’re
\nright to criticise the ‘environmental movement’ as elitist and
\nhypocritical, and usually only interested in self-promotion, but that
\ndoesn’t mean the issues raised are false.<\/p>\n

The funny thing about your response is that it is Muslim peoples in
\nplaces like Bangladesh, SE Asia, or sub-Saharan Africa that face the
\nproblems of rising sea water levels, desertification, depletion of
\nresources, etc — all so you can eat your beef steak and drive your 4
\nlitre SUV in keeping with your “Muslim lifestyle” (which is an
\ninteresting choice of terminology).<\/p>\n

(Btw, I hate tofu, do not drink coffee and eat meat. Though I do confess to owning a pair of sandals.)<\/p>\n

Umar: <\/b>Both of you seem to read something that is not here. I never said we
\nshould harm the environment or purely exploit it. We should take care
\nof the earth because we need it for our survival but we should do this
\nin a balanced manner. I never said anything to the contrary. The Green
\nMovement, with its Zero Population growth and support for International
\nPlanned Parenthood,I do not see as something Muslims can get down with.<\/p>\n

BTW, I have never owned an SUV, have lived most of my adult life in
\nurban areas without a car, do not own a vehicle now ( I lease a
\ntaxi),and probably have not eaten a steak in a year ( but eat beef on
\nthe regular). I grew up wearing hand me downs, as the kids in my house
\ndo, and I accumulate very little by choice other than books so, in all
\nactuality, I live a lifestyle probably greener than most of these
\njet-setting Prius driving Greens.<\/p>\n

Willow: <\/b>What’s The Green Movement, capitalized? I recycle, but I don’t believe in universal Chinese-style population control. <\/p>\n

My beef with the anti-environmentalist argument that
\n“environmentalism hurts the poor” is that it is not only false but
\nextremely US-centric. Anyone who’s spent time in a really polluted
\ncountry knows that pollution hits the poor first and hardest. They’re
\nthe ones who have to deal with lung cancer, birth defects and
\nwater-born illnesses while the rich hole up in their global green zones
\nwith bottled water and air purifiers. I lived for a year in a factory
\ndistrict in Cairo, and believe you me, environmental pollution was
\nnothing abstract to the people who’d grown up there. Babies were born
\nunderweight because the air was so polluted it was like their mothers
\nwere smoking 2 packs a day. Childhood lukemia was sky-high. I knew two
\npeople who dropped dead of heart failure in their mid-thirties. It was
\nso bad that the workers in the factory, many of whom suffered from
\nserious lung and heart conditions, went on strike last year to demand
\nhealthcare and cleaner working conditions. <\/p>\n

If people like you keep scoffing at conservation efforts and insist
\nenvironmentalism is all about Priuses and lattes (my first car was a
\n1.3 cc Hyundai, which achieves the same thing for 1\/4 the money), it
\nwon’t be long before the working classes in this country are facing
\nsimilar environmentally-driven health and welfare issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently at Talk Islam, we’ve been having a discussion about the Islamic attitude toward environmental conservation. It started when blogger Umar Lee, an anti-conservationist, posted this entry at his blog. When Talk Islam blogger Thabet called Lee’s attitude “ignorance dressed up as piety”, the following debate ensued: Willow: Yup. 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