Fazlun Khalid descended the stairs of the
Birkbeck building,in the University of London with great difficulty. At 84, his hair was white and his posture no
more upright, but the vigor with which he spoke belied his seniority. He once
worked for the British Air Force and the British Civil Service, and after
retiring, he somehow achieved a sudden realization after reading some religious
books, and then decided to devote the
next 30 years of his life as an environmental activist. He
seemed nonchalant about the terribly hot London skies under which I traversed in
disdain , or about the fact that he is
older than my grandparents .
I was attending a workshop on
Quran, Ecology and Conservation organized by Mr Fazlun's environmental group,
Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES) with a
friend, and we were mesmerized by the strength
of the old man who stood for hours to speak about nature.
I sat in a small room with a motley
group of people, ranging from aerospace structure analysts to housewives, most
of which were Muslims. As a student of economics, I was looking forward for the
accusations that would be thrown upon the capitalists, but I couldn't quite
figure out the motives of the mothers behind me who even brought their toddlers
who were quite passionate in crying at random times. Perhaps they had figured out that one doesn't have to be an environmentalist to
show their care about nature, or they have had nothing else to fill in free
time.
They were all eager and
curious to discuss and suggest solutions-as if that was possible- for climate
change and pollution, extinction of faunas and the sort, while I was thinking
about turtles and plastic bags. Mr Fazlun however started the day with a
presentation about Ilm al-Khalq, the study of creation in Islam, during which
we spent a few hours discussing verses of Quran related to the nature.
Instead of stripping naked in public
or disguising ourselves as choked turtles as environmentalists usually do, Mr
Fazlun Khalid conducted the session with the supreme politeness of a British
gentleman. He stressed that we human beings are entrusted with the care and
conservation of nature, all of which are signs of the Creator. There is a
concept of balance( mizan) of nature in
Islam which must be preserved , and it is the obligation of us all.
He said that the responsibility for
the climate change rests upon every human beings , not only rotten capitalists
or the industry , because the effects of climate change does not discriminate,
and in Islam, humans are the designated vicegerents on earth, which are responsible
upon the damages done by themselves.
While the old man talked
about hundreds of verses in Quran about nature, aided by Professor Abdul Haleem,
he did not try to monopolize the cause
of nature conservation, or make claims that Muslims have better ways of solving
the problem. Mr Fazlun humbly admitted that we are lagging far behind in the
amount of effort and concern, and he stated that for how much Quran is related
with the environment, we should have more Muslims engrossed in the fight, and
environmental issues should have been located
high in the list of Muslim priorities.
I was still waiting for the
mention of turtles when some of the participants tried to bait the hosts into
playing the blame game. While international conferences on environment usually
puts the blame upon oil companies and heavy industries, Muslims have the
tendency to put blame upon sects ; for example; the Salafis are somewhat guilty
for climate change because they are not as awesome as moderate Islamists. There was a breath of
relief as the chairperson quickly dismissed the issue by stating again that the
climate change does not discriminate against sectarian beliefs .
The hosts then showed us a
documentary about the conservation of coral reefs in the islands of Zanzibar, in
which Islam played a crucial role . After deciding that dealing with
capitalists and politicians are indeed a futile business, WWF sent Fazlun
Khalid to stop the poor fishermen there from fishing, a business which is the main source of their
livelihood. Fazlun Khalid collaborated with the Imams in the villages of
Zanzibar , and trained them to speak to the people about the conservation of
reefs and coral fishes.
The poor Muslims of Zanzibar
were taught that their methods of fishing were detrimental to nature, and that
should they destroy their reefs, rich European children wouldn't be able to
enjoy their paradise under the sea
anymore. Under the guidance of the Imams
and village heads, the locals obeyed the new rules set for the conservation,
such as avoiding areas marked for breeding, and using non-transparent and large
nets. These practices clearly reduce their source of income , yet the fishermen
accepted that the conservation of nature is indeed their responsibility. The
documentary actually showed some turtles.
Fazlun Khalid avoided playing the
blame game, and emphasized that the responsibility upon climate change lies
upon everybody , but he is only one of the few prominent Muslims in the field
of environmental activism . As if trying to challenge his feats, two youths
stood in front after the documentary, as
eco-ambassadors of MADE in Europe ( Muslim Agency for Development Education in
Europe) , and they spoke about initiatives they have taken for the environment,
mainly the Green Up programme, which tries to utilize mosques as the centre of
education for green practices. Mosques in London and around it are telling
their congregations to recycle and reduce waste, all with the help of mullahs
and technocrat Imams.
While Mr Fazlun explained how central
is nature in our faiths, he humbly stated how dismayed he was with the lack of
participation of Muslims in the cause. We need to sort out our priorities and
increase our contributions, instead of being continuously apologetic and pointing the finger at capitalists , or
blaming western imperialists for our own lack of concern.
Reduce plastic bags.
Save turtles.
