Q & A on Environmental Health – ( Islamic perspective )
The following issues were discussed by the IOMS, The Fiqh Academy at Jeddah and WHO in various meetings held between the years 1980 – 2000.
Q: 1) What does Islam say about maintaining clean environment?
A: The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) urged the people to clean and not pollute their environment. He (PBUH) said: “To clear the road of all sources of harm is a benefaction”. Benefaction, or sadaqa, is a term used in Islam to refer to what we call today civilized behaviour or civilized conduct, because as the derivation of the Arabic word suggests, it is true evidence that an individual belongs to the civilized Muslim community.
The Prophet’s (PBUH) guidance also includes his injunction, “Let no one urinate in stagnant water”. The Prophet (PBUH) has forbidden anyone to urinate where he bathes”. He used to say: “Avoid the two actions that bring peoples curses!” He was asked: “What are these?” “The one who defecates in the road and the shade used by others”.
Q: 2) What does Islam tell against exploiting environment?
A: God draws our attentions to what may occur if humans, indifferent to the various types of balance, go too far in exploiting the environment, which is what we are witnessing today. He says: “If God were to bestow abundance upon His servants, they would behave on the earth with wanton insolence” (42:27). He also says: ” Do not follow the counsel of those who are given to excesses, those spread corruption on earth instead of setting things to rights” ( 26: 151-152). And He says: “Had the Truth been in accordance with their desires, certainly heavens and the earth would have been corrupted” (23:71).
Q: 3) Is excessive exploitation of environment punishable by God?
A: Yes, excessive exploitation of environment with no check or control is an injustice of the worst type. It is ingratitude for the favours bestowed by God, because gratitude for a favour means that one should maintain and guard it. God gives the example of a town which…” was once safe and secure. Its sustenance came to it in abundance from every quarter. But it was ungrateful for God’s favours. Therefore, He afflicted it with famine and fear of what it did” (16:112). Speaking of similar towns, God says: “Such is the scourge of your Lord when he chastises sinful towns. Harrowing and severe is His punishment” (11:102). But “God was not unjust in treating them (29:40). It were they who used to “transgress in the earth and act unjustly…Mankind, it is against your own souls that your offenses rebound” (10:23). God does not stop at warning against corruption; he also points out the right way. He instructs the Prophet (PBUH) “Say: My Lord has commanded you to be just” (7: 29), meaning to be fair and moderate in all matters without going into either extreme.
Q: 4) What are the views of the Prophet (PBUH) about plantation?
A: The Prophet (PBUH) sought to encourage agriculture in order to increase vegetation resources and enhance benevolent environment. He (PBUH) said: “Whenever a Muslim plants or grows a sapling or a plant, and a human being, a beast, or anything else feeds upon it, it is counted for him as an act of benevolence”.
Q: 5) Did the Prophet (PBUH) establish environmental ?
A: Yes. The Prophet (PBUH) was the first to establish environmental reservations, where trees could not be cut down and animals could not be killed. “God’s messenger protected the whole Medina, section by section, where no tree could be uprooted and nothing bigger than what can be used to drive a camel could be cut”. He also said: “I forbid the trees between the two lavas of Medina to be cut down and the game to be killed”. Referring to the Wajj Valley in Taif, he said, “The game and trees of Wajj are forbidden”.
Source: islamset
Courtesy: www.everymuslim.co.za
