The faith of Islam is inherently environmental and calls on all humans to live up to their responsibility of care for others and animals, trees, in fact the whole of creation. It has very specific teachings on everything from protecting waterways to keeping creatures from harm.

The underlying spiritual principles that form part of God’s message to us in the Quran include tawhid – understanding the oneness of the Divine and His creation; and mizan – that everything has been established in a fine state of balance; as well as khilafah – humans have been made guardians of this living planet. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“The Earth is sweet and green and verily Allah (swt) has made you stewards of it.”

Sahih Muslim

This is a responsibility that we need to be stepping up, the United Nations, scientists and civil society leaders announcing collapsing biodiversity, accelerating destruction of wildlife habitat and the unfolding process of a mass-extinction event driven by humankind. On top of that, there is life-threatening air and water pollution alongside increasingly frequent disasters tied to climate change and the burning of fossil fuels.

At the Bahu Trust, we believe that preserving the environment is an act of worship, the faith of Islam gives a clear mandate to protect and look after nature. Inspired by the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change, we are working hard to make sure our education and spirituality encompasses this aspect of Islam & Environment in every way, trying to lead by example by installing solar panels and energy saving measures, to sharing teach-ins on how to reduce food waste and car miles, encouraging the community to walk or cycle to the mosque where possible and raising awareness in every sphere from individual and family actions to positive campaigning for societal change. Education and raising awareness amongst our Imams, religious leaders and the community are key to success.

We are particularly grateful for the support of the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES/EcoIslam) who have been campaigning for thirty-five years for Muslims to take the lead in restoring the earth to a state of balance and harmony. They have been very instrumental in providing guidance, training and various types of support.