{"id":1044,"date":"2011-01-16T01:34:26","date_gmt":"2011-01-15T20:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mohamediqbalp.wordpress.com\/2011\/01\/16\/ecology-and-islam-review-of-abdul-matin%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cgreen-deen%e2%80%9d-2010\/"},"modified":"2011-01-16T01:34:26","modified_gmt":"2011-01-15T20:04:26","slug":"ecology-and-islam-review-of-abdul-matins-green-deen-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2011\/01\/16\/ecology-and-islam-review-of-abdul-matins-green-deen-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecology and Islam: Review of Abdul-Matin\u2019s \u201cGreen Deen\u201d (2010)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ecology and Islam: Review of Abdul-Matin\u2019s \u201cGreen Deen\u201d (2010) | Dissident Voice<\/a><\/p>\n

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by Eric Walberg \/ January 14th, 2011<\/p>\n

Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
(Nov 11 2010)
Language: English<\/p>\n

Muslim Americans are slowly beginning to make their mark on their conflicted society. There are more Muslims than Jews in the US now \u2014 approximately 5 million. They are the most diverse of all American believers, 35 per cent born in the US (25 per cent Afro-American), the rest \u2014 immigrants from southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Traditionally they have voted Republican, but have shifted to Democrat and Green parties in recent years.<\/p>\n

Ibrahim Abdul-Matin is the son of black converts, raised in New York, a community organiser now environmental adviser to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. His book about Islam and the environment \u2014 Green Deen \u2014 is a stimulating overview of both the US environmental movement and how American Muslims are becoming part of it, bringing their own unique perspective.<\/p>\n

Abdul-Matin sees the weakness of the environmental movement today in its secular, legalist approach to problems: pass enough laws and you can curb the negative practices of business and consumers, and push them along an environmentally-friendly path.<\/p>\n

But this, as he shows here, is not enough. He interprets Islam\u2019s focus on One Creator as giving \u201chumankind the opportunity to be one and to have a common purpose\u201d, to bring back ethical principles into our daily lives. He points to six principles which underlie Islam and shows how they relate to our relationship to the environment:<\/p>\n

*understanding the Oneness of God and His creation (tawhid);<\/p>\n

*seeing signs of God (ayat) everywhere;<\/p>\n

*being a steward (khalifah) of the Earth;<\/p>\n

*honouring the trust we have with God (amana) to be protectors of the planet;<\/p>\n

*moving toward justice (adl); and<\/p>\n

*living in balance with nature (mizan).<\/p>\n

Deen or din, meaning religion in Arabic, is used in the Quran to refer both to the path along which righteous Muslims travel to comply with divine law (Sharia) and divine judgment or recompense, which all humanity must inevitably face \u2014 without intercessors \u2014 before God. The word probably derives from the Persian Zoroastrian concept Daena \u2014 insight, the Eternal Law. In Hebrew din means law or judgment. In Islam, the word implies an all-encompassing way of life lived in accordance with God\u2019s divine purpose as expressed in the Quran and hadith.<\/p>\n

The author recalls a moving childhood experience, hiking on Bear Mountain near New York, his first time in the wilds. He watched as his father cleared a spot in the forest to pray, explaining to him, \u201cThe Earth is a mosque.\u201d He considered other religions as a youth but reaffirmed his father\u2019s decision to follow the deen, \u201ca living tradition that is spiritually nourishing and intellectually coherent\u201d.<\/p>\n

For Abdul-Matin, there is no conflict between religion and science \u2013 – humans are the best of God\u2019s creation, and, as stewards blessed with intelligence and reason, have a responsibility towards the rest of God\u2019s creation. He points to the verse, \u201cCorruption has appeared on the land and in the sea because of what the hands of humans have wrought,\u201d as proof that God warned people about their possible harmful impact on the planet, \u201ca taste of the consequences of their misdeeds that perhaps they will turn to the path of right guidance\u201d. (Quran 30:41) In this sura, The Romans, God warns humanity not to disturb the balance of Nature.<\/p>\n

Green Deen is a refreshing mix of theory and practice. Concern for mizan translates as: \u201cWhere does your trash come from? Where does it go? How can you be actively involved in making the world a cleaner, less toxic place?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayat are everywhere: \u201cHe has made subject to you the sun and the moon, both diligently following their courses; and the Night and the Day.\u201d (Quran 14:32-3) While a hardnosed scientist might dismiss this as poetic license, the author interprets these ayat as indeed serving us every day, allowing us to travel, giving us heat and light, time to sleep and time to work. \u201cTo everything there is a season\u201d is Ecclesiastes\u2019 expression of this truth.<\/p>\n

Stop using \u201cenergy from hell\u201d \u2014 coal and oil, the latter associated with today\u2019s wars, both devastating in their ecological footprint, and betraying both khalifa and amana. Use \u201cenergy from heaven\u201d \u2014 solar power, wind energy. He could have mentioned woodchips, which can be burned efficiently and are bi-products, \u201cwaste\u201d, from manufacture. (For a khalifah, there is no such thing as waste).<\/p>\n

For someone with a more secular worldview, all this is still very relevant. In the past two centuries, science has reduced to the lifeless pursuit of technology. There is no poetry in this, only money and novelty. It is the very poetry of the Quran, this quaintness of the belief that Nature was made subject to humans, that is what is necessary for leading us to any change towards reincorporating morality into our lives, whether religious or secular, given our disconnect with Nature.<\/p>\n

The author gives a brief overview of the development of ecological awareness, starting with the conservation president Theodore Roosevelt, who in some sense recognised his role as khalifah, and set up the system of national parks at the beginning of the twentieth century, making humans\u2019 relationship to Nature part of America\u2019s political dialogue. The next step forward was not until the 1950s, when the American Dream, which captured the world\u2019s imagination, was accompanied by a sudden sharp decline in bird populations and an equally sharp rise in cancer rates.<\/p>\n

The realisation that growth was not without \u201cexternal economies\u201d started a popular movement to regulate toxic chemicals. In the 1960s, the civil rights movement empowered marginalised communities to build on this foundation. Now, the generalised problem of global warming demands that everyone should transform their lifestyles, as we are all \u201cmarginalised\u201d communities now.<\/p>\n

These developments reflect the six principles of a Green Deen. \u201cThe environmental movement can be seen as an attempt to restore balance and justice to the Earth after the environmental destruction caused by overconsumption,\u201d itself the result of an obsession with creating, producing, finding self-worth in consuming.<\/p>\n

This is the heart of the problem for the author, a result of our 20th- century economic systems \u2014 both capitalist and socialist, the author claims \u2014 which reduce us to units of production. \u201cWe become relevant only by what we can create.\u201d In contrast, Islam teaches that \u201cwe come with intrinsic value. We are also an ayat of Allah\u201d and \u201cdo not need to consume or create to have worth.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The author\u2019s analysis breaks down at this point. He is limited in what he can say, given American biases. Damning socialism along with capitalism is a typical American cop-out, but socialism was the secular attempt to reintroduce morality into the economy, to fulfill the six principles that underlie Islam \u2014 minus God.<\/p>\n

Socialism never had the chance to deal with the dilemma of over-consumption; the system, as identified with the Soviet Union, never had the luxury of luxury, always fighting for survival in the face of the more powerful capitalist world. Cuba is the only remnant of that socialist experiment and has a much better environmental record
\n than the West. Abdul-Matin makes no mention of its secular attempts to find mizan though they are encouraging and follow his by now standard recommendations: urban market gardens, solar energy, bicycling and walking, but above all, making do with less.<\/p>\n

Islam has a lot in common with socialism, a comparison Abdul- Matin implicitly makes in the principle of adl \u2014 social justice. Umm Kholthum boldly referred to the Prophet Mohamed as \u201cthe imam of socialism\u201d. The Prophet\u2019s wife Aisha related that, \u201cHe himself removed the lice from his clothing, milked his goats, and did all his work himself.\u201d No need to exploit others to fulfill your needs.<\/p>\n

The author can\u2019t hide his own socialist leanings entirely \u2014 green jobs (minimising inputs, producing durable, environmentally friendly outputs) must be linked to adl \u2013 justice and equality \u2014 or they will just perpetuate the current inequalities. Water should not be sold for profit. The famous hadith about Uthman buying the Ruma Well and making it waste-free, responding to the Prophet\u2019s call, is recounted.<\/p>\n

The author also skirts around the issue of neocolonialism, considering the colonies liberated in the 20th century as \u201cpostcolonial\u201d, though suffering from the \u201ceconomic control of large corporations\u201d. More tip-toeing through the US ideological minefield: America as the imperial ogre, the big waster, wreaking havoc around the world, does not make an appearance. Nor does the world\u2019s worst polluter \u2014 the US military. Watch Avatar, set far into the future, to see that there is nothing \u201cpost\u201d about so-called post-colonialism.<\/p>\n

Traditional societies were not over-consumers. Their no-brainer philosophy was Eat in order to live, not Live in order to eat, as we do today. The Western disdain for the \u201cprimitive\u201d inherently dismisses their natural wisdom.<\/p>\n

Abdul-Matin\u2019s defence of Islam implicitly asserts this wisdom, which is not unique to Islam. However, due to Islam\u2019s care to conserve the original message of 15 centuries ago, it has not been erased, as it has from the other monotheisms, so successfully incorporated into the modern world. He provides a fascinating example of how Islam can be practised in the modern world in new ways. A Muslim community in Chiapas, Mexico lives off the grid, with organic farms, few cars, solar panels made of scrap metal, sun-drying their fruit. They have rediscovered how relevant \u201cbackward\u201d ways of living are to today\u2019s needs, giving \u201ccivilisation\u201d a new meaning.<\/p>\n

The root of the problem is not just over-consumption, but the colonisation of the world, which destroyed \u2014 and destroys \u2014 cultures based on religion with its moral truths and respect for nature. Instead of \u201cWhat is a just price?\u201d the question is \u201cWhat can I get away with?\u201d This negative freedom (freedom to do anything subject to constraints) has taken the place of positive freedom (freedom as defined by an understanding and willingness to follow a path in accord with divine law), as embodied in religion.<\/p>\n

The various stages in environmental awareness in the West have tried to overcome this by regulations, the result of popular resistance \u2014 both community- and religious-based movements. The next step forward, according to the author, is an environmental justice movement, which he says is slowly coming about \u201cas a response to the disconnection between people and planet\u201d and which must incorporate the principles he outlines.<\/p>\n

The author enthuses about the \u201csmart grid\u201d and other self-regulating systems, which use computer monitoring and feedback to adjust the various components in environmental systems (temperature, air quality, energy use) given the situation and needs. That is all well and good. But aren\u2019t we still just consumers, even if more careful about our footprints?<\/p>\n

The author\u2019s intrinsic bias is still lifestyle-related: consume responsibly, but consume. Don\u2019t rock the boat. Nowhere does the author address the economic mechanism that lies behind colonialism and its tendency to over-consume \u2014 the maximizing of the surplus we produce, profits \u2014 whether or not we need this material excess. As long as we put profit on a pedestal, we are slaves to the destructive logic undermining the ecological balance.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet there be no change in the work wrought by Allah: that is the true Religion. But most among mankind understand not.\u201d (Quran 30:30) That ayat calls for us to minimise the surplus we extract from Nature in the form of profits. \u201cLeave well enough alone.\u201d As scientists of the economy and Nature do, we should maximise something worthwhile, like efficiency of production, green jobs, renewable energy use, clean air. In his care not to tread on capitalist-crazed American toes, the author misses the startling and highly relevant insight that Islam has for us: to seek balance, minimise consumption.<\/p>\n

That is the hidden truth here, for both Muslims and non-Muslims, religious and secular minds alike. We are witnessing today environmental heedlessness in Westernised Muslim societies like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. In Cairo the choking exhaust fumes, the casually disposed-of garbage on streets, the unthinking use and discarding of \u201cfree\u201d plastic bags, the misuse of water \u2014 this behaviour surprises foreigners, already more \u201cenvironmentally aware\u201d. Sadly, Muslims are today \u201ccatching up\u201d in the negative sense.<\/p>\n

By abandoning socialism, embracing Western neoliberalism, Egypt lost what little (socialist, anti-imperialist) morality there was that held society together, morality which found deep and heart-felt response in the common people. True, Egypt\u2019s socialist experiment was flawed. It suffered from paranoia \u2014 how to maintain power in the face of both Western Cold War intrigues and the difficulty of incorporating the greater truths of Islam in a largely secular movement \u2014 which eventually defeated it. There was no easy path to tread. Socialism\u2019s professed secular nature was a stumbling block that eventually brought it down.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the new awareness Abdul-Matin points to, sparked by the environmental movement in the West, will indeed find inspiration in Islam; and East and West will work together to revive the patient. A similar coming-together of activists in the West and the Muslim world is now trying to cure the other poison infecting the Middle East \u2014 Israel\u2019s refusal to come to its senses and make peace with its neighbours. Westerners concerned with adl are finding eager allies in Muslims, who need no convincing about the evils of colonialism when it comes to Greater Israel. For both East and West, realising that the mentality behind colonialism also lies behind the ecological crisis is the real next step forward.<\/p>\n

The author imagines another electricity blackout as happened most recently in 2003, and imagines houses of worship off the grid, \u201cshining beacons of light in a sea of darkness\u201d.<\/p>\n

Eric Walberg is a journalist who worked in Uzbekistan and is now writing for Al-Ahram Weekly in Cairo. Read other articles by Eric, or visit Eric’s website.<\/p>\n

This article was posted on Friday, January 14th, 2011 at 7:00am and is filed under Book Review, Capitalism, Cuba, Egypt, Environment, Global Warming, Israel\/Palestine, Neoliberalism, Russia, Socialism. ShareThis
2 comments on this article so far …<\/p>\n

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1.<\/p>\n

MichaelKenny said on January 14th, 2011 at 10:09am #<\/p>\n

Interestingly, all of this is very familiar to anyone who went to Catholic school. The terminology is different, that\u2019s all. The Catholic Church also condems both unbridled capitalism (the struggle of individuals) and marxism (the struggle of classes), and much of its social teaching is also essentially socialist. Indeed, when you separate socialism from marxism and communist fascism, it becomes a very natural worldview.<\/p>\n

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2.<\/p>\n

Rehmat said on Janu
\nary 15th, 2011 at 5:47am #<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to note that the writer of the article is Jewish and the author of the book works for an agent of Israel Lobby, Bloomberg.<\/p>\n

The book misquotes Muslim population of the US. Officially, it\u2019s recognized over six millions, the largest religious minority followed by Jewish (5 millions). However, Muslim organizations like CAIR, estimate Muslim population to be over nine millions.<\/p>\n

Islam has always been environment friendly. Unlike the followers of the other two Abrahamic religions (Judaism and Christianity), it refuses to get corrupted to attract more sheep and be accepted in the western so-called \u201cmodernization\u201d.<\/p>\n

Islam\u2019s protection of environment is being applied in Misali Island for the perservation of under-water life. The Island located on the channel between Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania \u2013 is only 1 km in size.
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Ecology and Islam: Review of Abdul-Matin\u2019s \u201cGreen Deen\u201d (2010) | Dissident Voice <!–google_ad_client = “ca-pub-3732368513453587”;\/* 728×90, created 07\/01\/10 *\/google_ad_slot = “0492720593”;google_ad_width = 728;google_ad_height = 90;\/\/–> src=”http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js”>by Eric Walberg \/ January 14th, 2011 Paperback: 264 pagesPublisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers(Nov 11 2010)Language: English Muslim Americans are slowly beginning to make their mark on their conflicted society. There are…
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