Islam in Ukraine - Islam and ecology

Park in place of a spontaneous dump: Dnepropetrovsk students of various nationalities and confessions organize subbotnik*

nourdeen — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 11:04:39 +0000

*in the local tradition, labor freely given to the state on days off or overtime.

A large-scale action on dump removal and park area arrangements in a historic site of the city was held by Dnepropetrovsk youth on November 8, 2012. The action engaged more than 200 students from Dnepropetrovsk universities and members of youth organizations affiliated with national communities, including many volunteers from the Public Organization “Al-Mustakbal” incorporated in the All-Ukrainian Association of Social Organizations "Alraid". One of them, a student from Jordan who wanted to keep incognito, was working with most steadfast volunteers till late at night. His zeal and diligence were highly appreciated by the organizing committee of the action.

The park was laid in place of a spontaneous dump nearby the stadium and educational buildings of Dnepropetrovsk National University. Volunteers and vehicles were cleaning the site from garbage and stones for three days. Unique trees and bushes have been planted on the dump place by now, which, according to staff of the University botanic garden, could never been seen elsewhere in Dnepropetrovsk.

Unprecedentedly active standing of youth

According to the organizers, numbers of volunteers coming to the action exceed their expectations by twice. Students rushed to work once they learned from their friends about a chance of taking part in an initiative like this. Inappropriate dress could not hinder, as young ladies on heels engaged in cleaning the area and planting trees with no lesser zeal than the others.

Trees and bushes planted in the new park were more than a hundred. They will be followed by benches that will be brought and put here soon. This action is rather the beginning, as it is unlikely to end up with cleaning and planting of trees. The dump’s future is seen by volunteers in very bright colors, because their plans involve building up an all-purpose student park in the dump place, which name will be devised by volunteers in an interactive contest. Pavilions, lighting and outdoor trainers are expected in the park as early as in the next year.

The initiative of this area improvement comes from university students and graduates. Apart from its being the student campus area, this area is known for its sad history, as nearly 14,000 people, mainly Jews, were shot dead here by German fascists on October 1941, during the II World War. The name of the gorge, Krasnopovstancheskaya (which can be translated from Russian as “the one named in memory of the uprising of the red”; “the red” refers to the Red Army; the Red Army is the name of the Soviet Army before the II World War), or Rasstrelnaya (derivative from rasstrel, translated from Russian as shooting, or execution by a firing squad) is related with this event. So, the organizers asked university administration and Jewish community for help.

As a result, the idea was supported by students from other universities and various national communities of Dnepropetrovsk. Germans, Greeks, Jews and Azeries were working neck to neck on one site. A Jordan student stood out, who was working together with most steadfast volunteers and got special gratitude from the organizers. Mrs. Svetlana Ivanova, dean of Dnepropetrovsk National University says: “It is incredible that a foreigner, a resident of other country, even the one who learns in another university, was working so enthusiastically on a dump site”.

“Golden” recovery: the burning problem of garbage removal in the city

Joint effort of students and public activists allowed for removing six trucks of garbage and planting more than a hundred of trees. The latter is a real challenge, as in the last decade this site was used for stocking city garbage and clinker, and the soil here is thickly strewn with stones. As digging with spades was impossible, a drill and a truck of black earth was needed. Volunteers were raking out bricks, fixture, plastic and glass bottles from the holes; after that they were leveling the soil and planting trees under the guidance of staff from botanic garden and according to the rules. This was followed by watering, requiring ten buckets of water per planted tree, and cleaning of the waste area from garbage and stones appearing this time due to digging of holes, garbage and stones.

Regional public administration gave vehicles to remove the garbage, bring water and black earth, whereas staff of the Ministry of Emergency Situations came with tea so that young men could get warm. It is true that the organizers refer this recovery action to as “golden” one for tax payers, as the only legal dump in the nearby territory where the garbage collected from the waste area could be brought is located 60 kilometers away from Dnepropetrovsk.

Implementing ecological dream

To activate youth effort for further improvements of the site, improved by students and for students, the organizers plan to implement the next phase of the project, to launch a series f student contests including ecological, landscape design and architectural ones. Because this gorge is an area with diversified landscape and unique flora, and it is significant for the sad historic events of the war years. All the conceived undertakings are incorporated in a large-scale program developed last year by a group of active student specialized in advertizing, for the All-Ukrainian contest “University Brand”.

Mrs. Anna Voronova, a student project participant, says: “For us, this project is a dream, and the central issue for us was about understanding the way of doing this project so that it should not be a fiction. Thanks to organizing support from public organizations and contribution from all the partners, our dream is coming true”.

Public administration and national communities combine effort in search for funds for the improvement

Further development of the project will require resources. The chairman of the regional council, who joined the action and planted several trees, pledged support from power offices for similar undertakings in future. Also, creation of an ecological foundation is expected, to finance projects on improvement of similar areas and problem zones. Volunteer and material support is also expected from national communities that have actively joined the project.

By arraid.org

Tags: Ukrainian news, Al-Mustakbal, Dnepropetrovsk, Islam in Ukraine, foreign students, national communities, environment, ecology, Islam and ecology

20/11/2012

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Muslim world to promote ‘green haj’ concept

oksana — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:39:43 +0000

Muslim community representatives from 17 countries will hold an international conference on climate change to hash out tangible action to tackle global warming, including through the “green haj” concept.

The April 9-10 conference in Bogor will feature around 200 participants, including 90 from Islamic boarding schools across Indonesia.

“This is an action-oriented conference to motivate Muslims to protect the planet from the threat of global warming,” organizing committee member Ismet Hadad said Monday.

“We want to show the world that Muslims are also doing their part to combat climate change, which affects all people regardless of religious or ethnic background.”

The conference will be held at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture’s convention center, and will be funded in part by Conservation Inter-national.

Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta and Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan are expected to open the conference.

The list of speakers includes Fazlun Khalid from the London-based Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environment Science; Muhammad Hassan from Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, and Moroccan Abdelkader Allali, a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The inaugural Muslim conference on climate change was held in Kuwait in 2008.

At last year’s meeting in Istanbul, the conference adopted the “Muslim seven-year action plan for climate change”.

The plan includes proposals for a more environmentally management of the annual haj, eco-friendly mosques and publishing the Koran with paper from sustainable forests.

Ahmad Fauzi, the Forestry Ministry’s liaison for the conference, said organizers expected to come up with concrete results on how to implement the proposals agreed on in Turkey.

He said one of the more ambitious targets was the “green haj”, in which haj pilgrims would be encouraged to minimize and offset their carbon footprints from the pilgrimage.

“If each of the 250,000 or so Indonesian haj pilgrims set aside US$10 toward that end, we’d have a $2.5 million fund to combat climate change,” Ahmad said.

Another measure for adoption is to phase out the use of plastic bottles throughout the haj.

“The idea is for the pilgrims to bring back an understanding of caring for creation as an act of faith,” the action plan says.

It also calls on Muslim communities to build “green mosques” through energy-saving designs.

Ahmad said the conference would help boost awareness of environmental issues among Muslims at schools and universities, and help draw up guidelines on climate change issues to be distributed among Muslim scholars.

He added the Bogor conference was unlikely to see the establishment of the planned Muslim Association for Climate Change Action (MACCA), an umbrella organization to implement the action plan to mitigate the impact from climate change.

Conservation International’s Fakhruddin Mangunjaya said the conference would declare Bogor as a green city in the Muslim world.

The conference will select 10 such green cities in the Muslim world as models for other Muslim-majority cities to aspire to.

By The Jakarta Post

Muslim washing rite goes hi-tech

10/04/2010

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Washington Muslims Promote Environmental Awareness

oksana — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:26:22 +0000

A recent series of record-breaking snowfalls in Washington has sparked debate among global climate change observers — both its believers and detractors — as to the extent of humanity’s impact on the environment. While the pundits debate, environmentally conscious Washington-area Muslims are promoting a message of environmental stewardship to both Muslims and non-Muslims in their community.

As it turns out, a strong connection exists between Islam and protecting the Earth.

DC Green Muslims was born in October 2007 when a group of friends gathered for a vegetarian, environmentally friendly iftar. In the following months, the group held more environmentally friendly meals, attracting up to 150 people. Today, the group is an active member of Washington’s environmental awareness community.

But what is a green Muslim?

“A green Muslim is someone who realizes that being aware of their impact on the Earth is something that is not a foreign concept to Islam but knows that it is rooted in Islam,” Ryan Strom, an organizer with DC Green Muslims, told America.gov.

Strom said his loosely affiliated organization partners actively with other like-minded Washington-area groups dedicated to environmental preservation. DC Green Muslims has worked with Washington Parks and People to revitalize neglected parks and participated with Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light (GWIPL) on a number of environmental programs.

“DC Green Muslims participated in a GWIPL dinner based on urban planning and how you interact with your neighborhood, how neighborhoods and cities are built and how they can impact your happiness,” Strom said.

In October 2009, DC Green Muslims participated in No Impact Week, hosted by the online news blog The Huffington Post. Group members discussed some of their No Impact Week efforts on the DC Green Muslims blog.

In step with its community activities, DC Green Muslims also plans to work with Washington-area mosques to further educate Muslims about Islam’s connection with environmental issues.

“We are hoping to hold environmental workshops for people who give khutbas[sermons] in mosques,” Strom said. “We are trying to outreach to community leaders at mosques in and around Washington, D.C., to get them to incorporate environmental stewardship from an Islamic perspective.”

For green Muslims, environmental consciousness in Islam is rooted strongly in both the Quran and the hadith (tradition of the Prophet Mohammad). Among the Quranic concepts that support environmental protection is that of khalifa, or stewardship, and amana, or trust.

Environmentally aware Muslims cite a Quranic verse that says amana was offered to the heavens, the earth and the mountains. However, they refused to accept such a burden and it was transferred to humankind.

They propose that in this situation, humanity becomes a fulcrum for the Earth. If humanity is centered and whole, the Earth is balanced. But if humanity is not balanced — by harming the environment and not promoting social justice — corruption will spread on Earth.

Concepts that support environmental awareness are also found in the prophetic tradition, say green Muslims. The Prophet Mohammad spent part of his youth closely connected to nature as a shepherd. And a saying attributed to him indicates the Earth can serve as a mosque and a means for purification.

They believe that if the Earth can serve as a mosque, this supports a strong argument against polluting its land and its water — used by believers in ritual ablutions.

A desire to protect and preserve their environment is not new among Muslim Americans.

In the late 1960s, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, currently a professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, wrote Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man. In his groundbreaking work, Nasr explored the consequences of the environmental crisis and called for a restoration of balance between humanity and nature.

In September 2007, Ibrahim Ramey of the Muslim American Society (MAS) joined thousands of people in the Climate Emergency Fast to bring awareness to the global environmental crisis. On his blog, entitled Ibrahim Abdil-Mu’id Ramey — Voice of Reason, Ramey encouraged Muslims to fast just days before Ramadan.

“I believe that this additional act of fasting is necessary because, as Muslims, we are called to pray for the well-being of all mankind, and if we pray for humanity, fasting is, indeed, our most powerful and sincere form of prayer,” wrote Ramey, director of the MAS’ Freedom Foundation Human Rights and Civil Rights Division in Washington. “Believe me when I say that the Earth itself is in crisis. Real crisis. And this crisis threatens the delicate balance of nature that sustains all life on the planet.”

Whether Washington-based Muslim Americans are defending the Earth through prayer and fasting, authoring pioneering environmental awareness books or beautifying local parks, a common thread binds them all.

“At the core, our religion tells us that God has given us such a great natural resource and it is our job to protect and maintain it,” Strom said.

By America.gov

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27/02/2010

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