Whose Environmental Crisis?

So most importantly we must read and reflect on the Qur'an. There are dozens of Qur'an classes online and probably at most mosques, but we need, in addition to learning meanings and commentary of the Qur'an, to program our own implementation of it, as our scholars have detailed it for a millennium and more. Yet this will only be consolidated and meaningful if we add to this our own reflection on its meaning in our lives, times, environment, and the universe -- with wide-open creativity.

I have begun a program where we read a few ayaat, look some words up in the dictionary, and then reflect and ponder on them. We then write and share a few paragraphs about our own reactions and thoughts. It has been most enlightening and enjoyable.  Family and friends can share their reflections and discuss them. Challenging each other is very important in the dialogue to move it past chitchat to discovering our own deep-seated beliefs and allowing our ideas to grow and change. In addition, we should set goals to achieve together -- for Allah tells us to compete in good works: Examples are memorization, keeping a Qur'an Reflection Journal, fasting, praying nights, and giving regular charity from the things we ourselves grow and make, and countless other things. For in the end, it is spiritual upliftment and good character that will help us to stand strong for justice and plant seeds for real change.

Islam tells us that all the prophets were shepherds, a job most of us now look down on with contempt. But as a scholar who recently passed away once said, he came to understand through years of observation, reflection, and cultivation of land, there is a profound wisdom in the healing of the earth as the cure for a world filled with horrifying human oppression.

Our challenge is to learn to see ourselves, the animals, plants, minerals and all the beings of the earth again, as they truly are, fellow creatures worshipping the same, sole God who created them and us, and who sustains us. That is why it is so important that we once again learn to listen. For, as we have seen, it is only the words of the Qur'an that can put life back into our hearts and cure our blindness. Then, when we look into its unfailing mirror, we shall, indeed, see clearly the fairest of creation.

This article was first published at SeeHearSpeak.com and at aljumuah.com and is reprinted with permission.

Shireen Pishdadi has been involved in Chicago's Faith in Place, an interfaith organization that helps religious leaders address environmental issues from their faith perspectives. She also co-founded Taqwa Eco-Food, a co-op that aims at producing food that meets Islamic dietary regulations.