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http://www.arabnews.com/islam-perspective/news/767296
Ramadan
Holy Month – Ecological Footprint Considerations – Muslim Women
Photo: The Independent
By
MOHAMED ABDEL RAOUF - Research Fellow in the Environmental Research
Program of the Gulf Research Center.
25 June 2015 - Fasting
during Ramadan involves refraining from food, liquids and sex from dawn to
sunset as well as focusing on prayers, charity, helping others, and on good
deeds. However, this is the easiest part of fasting. The responsible attitude
of a Muslim during Ramadan is very crucial for the correctness and acceptance
her/his fast, Insha Allah.
In fact, Ramadan offers a real chance to inculcate a positive change in our
attitude toward the environment. Without doubt, adopting an eco-friendly
lifestyle in general and especially during Ramadan is not only a social
responsibility, but also a religious duty as human existence and well-being is
dependent upon a healthy environment.
In Islam, a person’s relation to the earth is seen as that of a custodian
mainly responsible for improving the quality of life and guaranteeing a healthy
environment. “Now, behold! Your Lord said to the angels: I am placing upon the
earth a human successor to steward it” (Qur’an, 2:30).
It is required that women and men
should work toward the conservation of earth, ensuring sustainability of
natural resources for future generations. In short, to be a Muslim is to pray
(worship) and to be a custodian (to develop earth). This is very clear in the
literature on the fundamentals of Islamic religion.
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
Recently, in environmental science, the concept of “ecological footprint” is
used frequently as a metaphor to depict the amount of land and water area a
human population would hypothetically need to provide the resources required to
support itself and to absorb its wastes and emissions, given prevailing
technology.
Footprinting is now widely used around the globe as an indicator of
environmental sustainability. It can be used to measure and manage the use of
resources throughout the economy. It is commonly used to explore the
sustainability of individual lifestyles, goods and services, organizations,
industry, regions and nations.
The idea of footprint is already rooted in Islamic culture and values and there
are many examples and verses in the Qur’an and Sunnah that urge Muslims to
reduce their footprint and ask them to live lightly on earth. The Qur’an
describes believers of Allah as those who “walk on the Earth in humility”
(Qur'an, 25:63).
When asked about how the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to live in his house,
the Prophet’s wife, Ayeshah, said that he used to repair his shoes, sew his
clothes, and carry out all such household tasks without complaint or want for
more (authenticated by Al-Albani).
The idea behind this was to show Muslims that menial tasks were not degrading
for Allah’s Prophet (peace be upon him). Reusing and repairing things instead
of always buying new is not a sign of poverty, they are a sign of power. By
performing household duties, the Prophet (peace be upon him) was saying we can
build foundations on fewer things, we are in control of what we consume, and we
do not need more.
Of course, every individual is in control of what she/he uses, eats, does, and
goes. Every person will leave an ecological footprint.
Your ecological footprint, in simple words, is related to your consumption and
the total amount of pollution and emissions that you produce in life by using
energy, especially fossil fuel, through transportation, use of electricity,
consumption of certain food, clothes that require transportation and industrial
fertilizers and so on.
Muslims should seize the opportunity of the holy month of Ramadan as a time to
reduce, for instance, their carbon footprints by recycling, carpooling, using public
transportation more often, reducing energy and water consumption, and investing
in clean energy.
Also, we need to re-think many of our current consumption patterns from a
sustainability point of view. In other words, our consumption has to be “green”
and that means doing something that protects and supports the environment and
doing things that take into consideration the carrying capacity and ecological
footprint. That, in turn, means that natural resources should be able to
support current as well as future generations.
Muslims should go beyond fasting and really look at the broader consequences of
responsibilities toward earth and humanity. The month of Ramadan is a golden
opportunity to consider reducing their footprint through deeds that are
non-polluting, non-wasteful, and are not damaging to natural resources.
Reducing footprint will simply mean achieving sustainable development and
ensuring better quality of life for future generations as well.
Let us seize the opportunity that Ramadan offers and adopt exemplary behavior
that really reduces our footprint and hope that this responsible
pro-environmental lifestyle will continue all year round. There is an
opportunity for real change, not only in Ramadan, but also afterward.