By now the majority of us would agree that climate change is largely a man-made phenomenon. Some would even be more brutal by saying that it is a self inflicted wound. The greatest challenge we currently face in addressing climate change is our collective lack of proper awareness and collective efforts in arresting it or even just slowing it down. For communities of faith doing something to safeguard the environment is actually part of their religious duty.
According to the HRH Prince of Wales Rainforests Project, tropical rainforests, some, millions of years old, are being cleared at the rate of one football field every four seconds which means six millions acres are being destroyed every year.
The value systems that we hold and which in turn shape and mould our behavior and attitudes towards nature and society, are the result of our overall beliefs and metaphysical views concerning all of reality.
Any alternative theories of environmental ethics or worldviews vis-a-vis the environment can therefore be expected to challenge the basic proposition of the dominant modern understanding of nature. In the United States for example, S.H. Nasr who wrote in 1976 Man and Nature – The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man is regarded by some as the first green Muslim. Nasr stresses the importance of a greater awareness of the origins of both man and nature as a means of righting the imbalance that exists in our deepest selves and in the environment. He highlights the observation that since the appearance of the environmental crisis, modern humans have begun to perceive religion for a new standpoint, an ecological outlook in which everything is connected to everything else and nature is seen as an organic unity.
What is more surprising is that the global character of our environmental problems has encouraged the members of diverse world religions to cooperate with each other, to see the problems in a real and universal context. Such a new understanding brings members of different faiths and traditions to a new level and paves the way for a dialogue between them that has never before been experienced. With the commencement of a new millennium, it seems that humanity is turning its mind, heart, and face towards the Transcendent to study it not for its own sake only, but with the hope for a better future for humans and for all creation as well. Since by its nature, ecological reasoning is holistic and interdependent, it urges us to reconsider and to rediscover our religious values in this 21st century. There is now the realisation of the immediate necessity to fill what Hans Jonas calls an “ethical vacuum at the core of the contemporary modern culture”. It is also necessary, therefore, to begin by outlining the main propositions underlying the dominant worldview.
One of these is the belief that nature is a machine, that it has no value and expresses no sense of purpose. A tree, for example, has no intrinsic value of its own. According to the modern materialistic concept of nature, the tree only gains its value through human intervention, such as when it becomes a chair or a table for example. The only value that nature can have is instrumentalistic value. Such an understanding of nature has provided justification for the exploitative use of nature and natural resources.
Contemporary religions understands this situation and they believe that the first thing to do is to highlight the effects of unstrained materialism and secularization (the belief that only this material world exist and matters which leads to the periphalisation of religion, the source of values, meanings and purpose) in contemporary societies. Objective analyses have shown that the very separation of knowledge and religion which began during the Enlightenment period of the 16th century has been the major cause of the environmental crisis to begin with. Religions such as Islam have not only principles to offer but also actually culturally embedded practices (ibadah) that can help the manifestation of “green behaviors”.
For Muslims at least “living a green din” (religion and way of life) means understanding firstly the principle of Tauhid (Oneness of God). The Creator not only creates everything in the universe but is also constantly sustaining it, from the smallest subatomic elements described by physicists right up to the quasars – the furthest energy bodies the human eye/instrument can trace in outer space. It would seem that science has now proven that at the material and spiritual level, everything is comprised of the same basic element – flashes of light or energy bundles. Muslims understand tauhid as also a manisfestation of such an interconnectedness of everything in the universe (the most important lesson of ecology and the environmental crisis). Producing far too much green house gases will result in climate change for example and this is also an indicator of imbalance.
For Muslims a green din also mean that everything in the natural world is a sign (ayat) from the Creator. Usually ayat is understood to refer to the 6236 verses of the Quran, but it can also mean signs from the Creator existing in nature. With understanding and knowledge, reading the Quran is like taking an existentrial/experiential walk through life and nature – through which our attention should be fine-tuned to see that in every aspect of creation a divine message exists that can add to the meaning, purpose and ethics of our lives.
Green living through the din is to remember that we are created from the Earth (as all the elements in our physical body finally originates from the Earth) and that we have to do all that we can, to protect and manage it in a sustainable way. Those who do so would have proven themselves to be stewards (khalifah) of the Creator.
From the green perspective Islam also stresses that the environment is a trust (amanah) from the Creator. The trust is a promise to protect and sustain the planet (and the other humans on it especially for those with power). It is for carrying out this trust that humans have been given the gift of speech, knowledge and freedom to make decisions. We are trusted to be loving and just through these gifts. The trust is not for us to pillage, destroy or take from others.
Lynn White’s argument that it is the religious idea of man having dominion over nature that started the over exploitation of nature is a simplistic idea in that he does not fully understand the accountability aspect of the stewardship, (also found in other religions) idea/principle, to begin with.
This means that the natural world has to be treated and dealt with in a fair manner (adl). We need to understand that there are many communities such as the Orang Asli communities who are without political and economic power/control over resources and who often suffer disproportionately the negative effects of environmental pollution and degradation. Environmental justice and climate justice movements have now arisen to help such groups.
Finally, Muslims believe that everything in creation is made to exist in a perfect balance (mizan). The Quran explains,
He has created man: He has taught him speech and Intelligence. The sun and the moon follow courses (exactly) computed. And the herbs and the trees – both (alike) bow in adoration. And the Firmament has He raised high, and He has set up the Balance of Justice (Justice), in order that you may not transgress (the) balance. So establish weight with justice and fall not short in the balance. It is He who has spread out the earth for (His) creatures. (Quran 55: 3-10)
Muslims are also taught that the whole earth is like a mosque (masjid) which comes from the root word sujd (prostration – a symbolic act of complete trust and reliance on God). This idea comes from the hadith “wherever you may be at the time of prayer, you may pray, for it (the Earth) is all a mosque.”
Practical ways religious institutions can bring the green din concepts to life include the example where 500 mosques in Terengganu presented sermons on turtle conservation in 2008; the Leeds mosque in the United Kingdom posting on its website, links to Islam and the environment and encouraging recycling activities on its premises etc. Similarly ‘Green’ pasentrens (religious schools) abound in Indonesia and other encouraging examples are beginning to be found.
Similarly other mosques in Malaysia and elsewhere can carry out many activities that can give its jamaah (users) practical green steps to follow such as water and energy saving methods, recycling systems, waste management, green architecture etc. The Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia for example has recently published and launched a book “Islam, Pemuliharaan Hidupan Liar dan Anda” which is the result of its three year collaboration project with WWF to save wild life in Malaysia and increasing public awareness about environmental issues especially among religious leaders who can spread the message to their ma’mum (congregations).