Green Earth: The Prophetic Vision

Green Earth: The Prophetic Vision Earth is so much more than just a “dead” planet for us to abuse and exploit

BY IBRAHIM H. MALABARI

Upward of 50,000 acres of forests are cleared by farmers and loggers per day worldwide primarily for animal agriculture, reports Taylor Meek (https://sentientmedia.org/how-does-agriculture-cause-deforestation). Such clearing results in habitat loss, amplifies greenhouse gases, disrupts water cycles, as well as increases soil erosion and excessive flooding. It also threatens biodiversity, decreases carbon absorption and magnifies natural disaster damage.

Forests and rainforests are the only livable habitats for a variety of species and store massive amounts of carbon. Clearing them pushes frontline and Indigenous communities out of their homes, thus violating their human and land rights and destroying their way of life.

Abdullah ibn Habashi reported that the Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “He who cuts a lote-tree [without justification], God will send him to Hellfire” (“Al-Tirmidhi,” hadith no. 5239). The lote-tree is the perfect symbol because it requires little but provides a lot and can thrive in the harshest environments. The Prophet even prohibited cutting down trees during wartime. This last item was affirmed by Article 3 of the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights, issued and adopted at the Nineteenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Cairo in 1990.

The Prophet contended that Earth has a spiritual dimension, as we can see in 17:44 and 13:15. Moreover, they brought a different dimension to the idea of protecting Earth and its environment by encouraging people to be fascinated by nature’s wonders, as proclaimed in 13:4 and 27:60. Reflecting this, the Prophet’s stated: “If the Day of Judgment comes while one of you holds a sapling in his hand, let him hurry and plant it” (“As-Silsila as-Sahiha,” hadith no. 9).

The Quran relates that God appointed humanity to look after Earth and not abuse or spoil it (7:56), that Earth and all of its creatures are His dear obedient servants who prostrate for His sake (22:18) and that Earth is an intelligent being entrusted with taking account of humanity’s deeds (99:1-4). The Prophet implemented these verses by telling his followers: “Earth has been made a place of worship and source of purification for me” (“al-Tirmidhi,” hadith no. 317).

Now, consider some of the illustrative anecdotes from the Prophet’s life that may seem superstitious but nevertheless emphasize this attitude: The trees and hills would greet him during his walks, and a rock in Makka would greet him before his prophethood. His kindness and mercy embraced all creatures, things and beings, whether living or not.

Moreover, he told people that if they were merciful to all that is on Earth, then God will be merciful to them. The Hadith literature reports that when the wooden stump that had served as his pulpit was changed, it began to cry. When he stepped down and put his hands on it, it stopped crying. After he told it that he would give it the choice of being returned to its original garden so it could flourish once again or of being planted in Heaven “so that God’s friends might eat of your fruits,” it chose the latter option. The Prophet replied: “It is done. It has chosen the abode of eternity over the abode of transience” (“al-Bukhari,” hadith no. 4927).

He also revealed that whatever is on Earth, regardless of whether we perceive it as living or not, is not only sensible but also deeply sensitive. Once pointing

to a well-known mountain in Madina, the Prophet said: “The mountain (Uhud) loves us, and we love it” (“Sahih Bukhari,” hadith no. 2889). In addition, he frequently used trees as symbols to display and demonstrate heavenly and spiritual realities, such as, “In Paradise, there is a tree so large that in its shade a rider may travel for one hundred years without being able to cross it” (“Sahih Muslim,” hadith nos. 2827 and 2828).

In other words, the Prophet viewed nature not merely as a united body, but as a united body that flows from and returns to God’s eternal mercy — a spiritual ecosystem that eclipses, both ethically and practically, what we have only recently come to grasp in terms of a material ecosystem. The Prophet’s teachings concerning Earth and its human and non-human inhabitants are critical today, given the dangers of environmental disaster, ecological imbalance, the depletion of the ozone layer, climate change and so on. We need to pay attention to this holistic approach that recognizes the importance of humans, of all of their co-inhabitants and of Earth itself.

Earth is God’s creation, and its resources are His bounties to humanity. Thus, He “does not love the wasteful” (7:31) and states that “the squanderers are, indeed, of the ilk of satans — inasmuch as Satan has indeed proved most ungrateful to his Sustainer” (17:26-27). Given this reality, the Prophet taught his Companions to be extremely conscious of using any natural or other resource, such as not wasting water when performing ablution. Tariq Ramadan writes: “The Prophet’s insistence on not wasting any natural resources, ‘even when using the water of a running stream,’ indicates that he placed respect for nature on the level of essential principles that must regulate behavior whatever the situation

THE PROPHET’S TEACHINGS CONCERNING resulting harvest “piled in heaps like mountains.”

EARTH AND ITS HUMAN AND NON-HUMAN INHABITANTS ARE CRITICAL TODAY, GIVEN When the Prophet replied that “on that God will say, ‘Take, here you are, O son of Adam, for nothing satisfies you,’ a Bedouin who was present remarked

THE DANGERS OF ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER, that “such a man must be either from Quraysh

ECOLOGICAL IMBALANCE, THE DEPLETION OF or from Ansar, for they are farmers while we are not.” Hearing his reply, God’s Messenger smiled.

THE OZONE LAYER, CLIMATE CHANGE AND The Prophet’s sacralization of approximately

SO ON. WE NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO THIS 750 square km. of land surrounding Makka should be realized as a model of a green Earth.

HOLISTIC APPROACH THAT RECOGNIZES THE He stated: “The grass of Makka and its thorns

IMPORTANCE OF HUMANS, OF ALL OF THEIR should not be removed, and its trees should not be cut” (“Sahih Muslim,” hadith no. 3143). He

CO-INHABITANTS, AND OF EARTH ITSELF. called the area haram (a sacred or inviolable sanctuary), in which peace, tranquility and greenery and whatever the consequences. This is not an ecology should be fostered. His teachings lend themselves to the idea that those who springing from the anticipation of disasters (which are conscious of their accountability to God are likely to avoid abusing Earth result from human actions) but a sort of ‘upstream and its natural resources. ecology’ that rests on people’s relation to nature on an The Qur’an invites humanity to reflect on Earth’s awe-inspiring beauty and ethical bedrock associated with an understanding of greenery (6:99 and 6:141). In fact, according to 21:105-07, Earth will eventually the deepest spiritual teachings. The believer’s relation become the Paradise in a completely different form and shape. God will change to nature must be based on respect and contemplation the universe’s current system on the Day of Judgment. And as we read in Psalm of the deeper nature of things. Thus the believing 37:29, He will turn the Earth into Paradise, in which His true servants will dwell conscience must, to the very end, be sustained by forever: “The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.” this intimate relation with nature, even to the extent As Prophet Muhammad was a continuation of the divine mercy and grace sent that one’s last gesture should be associated with the to humanity by God through Moses and Jesus (‘alayhum as salam), his love for renewal of life and its cycles.” a green Earth transcended this world. He gave his contemporaries picturesque

Thus, wasting water is not only practically wrong, descriptions of the gardens of the deepest green and of many wondrous hues, but also immoral, for water is one of God’s blessings, trees with blissful shade and heavy with fruit, along with running streams. He as pointed out by 23:18, 67:30 and 56:68-70. even prophesized that “the Hour will not begin until the land of the Arabs once

Moreover, his approach to the environment was again becomes meadows and rivers” (“Sahih Muslim,” hadith no. 157). transcendental, as depicted in “Sahih al-Bukhari,” Unfortunately, instead of being at the forefront of efforts to keep Earth green, hadith no. 7519. In sum, the Prophet was telling his Muslims are lagging far behind other people. If the Prophet were alive today, audience that one of the People of Paradise will ask he would be encouraging the environmental movements and supporting all God to let him cultivate the land. God will ask if he such attempts. ih doesn’t already have all that he desires, to which he Ibrahim H. Malabari is president, Messenger of Mercy Foundation International, and founding member, will reply that he does but that he wants to see the International Union of Muslim Scholars and the Imam’s Council of Canada.