God-consciousness (taqwa)
By: Rianne C Ten Veen
Tags: Sustainable Development, Muslim, Creation, Islam

In 2009 I self-published a book based on my years of research on islam and the environment (‘199 ways to please God, how to [re-]align your daily life with duty of care to Creation’ [out of print now; ISBN-10: 184426629X; ISBN-13: 978–1844266296]) … with an update in mind, am here going to first share the ‘old’ version bit by bit. As a sixth post: the second part of the ‘beliefs’ section’!

“And we have not created the heavens and the earth and what is therein purposelessly — that is the view of those who reject [God] or who are ungrateful” (As-Saaffat [37] 27; Al-Imran [3] 191)

Having God consciousness allows a person to be constantly aware of both God’s omnipresence and attributes and a reminder of their relationship and responsibility to God as his creation and servant. The scholars explain that the way to God consciousness is through obedience of God, avoiding disobedience, and striving to stay away from doubtful matters (Islam itself is translated as “submission”). Put simply, God consciousness is awareness of God’s presence as one moves through life.

According to Andrew M. Watson the inhabitants of the early Islamic world were, to a degree that is difficult for us to comprehend, enchanted by greenery. This love of plants is clearly shown in a genre of poetry, the ‘rawdiya’ or garden poem, probably of Persian origin, which came to be one of the main poetic forms in the Abbasid orient from the eighth to the tenth century. In the garden poem, the author exclaimed at the coolness of the shade, the heaviness of the perfume, the music of the running water, the lushness of the foliage and so forth — in short at all the features of the artificially contrived environment which contrasted so strongly with the arid natural world. And according to M.W. Dols it was not only the rich who had large and lavish botanical gardens but also the poor with their small gardens and terraces, gardens were a distinctive cultural trait of Islamic society.

On the authority of Ubayy Ibn Kaab it is reported that God’s Messenger said: “Do not malign the wind; if you see that which displeases you, say: “Oh, God! We ask of You the good of this wind and the good that it is commanded to bring with it; and we seek refuge with You from the evil of this wind and the evil that it is commanded to bring with it.” Because Islam has ordered us to be of good character and good manners, the Messenger of God forbade the Muslims from maligning or cursing the wind; this is because the wind is one of God’s creations: It does not blow or remain still, or harm or benefit except by God’s Command therefore vilifying it amounts to vilifying God Who sent it. Then God’s Messenger informs us that the wind may bear good or ill and that it is incumbent upon the believer to ask God, Most High, for the good and to seek protection with God from the evil.

Wildlife and natural resources are protected under Shariah by zoning around areas called ‘hima’. In such places, industrial development, habitation and extensive grazing are not allowed. The Prophet himself, followed by the Caliphs of Islam, established such ‘hima’ zones as public property or common lands managed and protected by public authority for conservation of natural resources. In current day UK such areas are referred to ‘greenbelt areas’.

I enjoyed reading Akhtaruddin Ahmad’s plea in his book Islam and the environmental crisis (published in 1997): “The followers of all religions especially the Muslims must stop looking at themselves as if they were football club supporters, and must see themselves as worshippers of Allah who follow prophets”. I am not sure whether that is what Ahmad was referring to, but personally it reminds me of when I was attending school in Argentina. According to my memory we would do sports (have physical education, or PE) every school day except when the weather was too bad (fortunately we always did sports outside in the fresh air). In the latter case, it seemed we always got to the watch a film of the series Herbie (the talking car) or the 1978 football world cup final, a match of The Netherlands versus Argentina, and the latter won (1–3). In my memory, for weeks afterwards I (with my two younger sisters the only Dutch in school) would be told “we won from you” and I would think ‘we’ve never played against each other’ (we were classmates), so what are they doing claiming credit for deeds they have not done?’ (well, in those days I may have thought this in different words, but with similar gist). Actually, Ahmad does explain what he means (I paraphrase): we should stop looking at our small differences, educate ourselves on environmental issues and put the teachings we adhere to into practice in the here and now ourselves instead of only referring to Islam as sacred relic of the past.

God-consciousness and curiosity to explore God’s Creation, used to be so common. For example, Abu Uthman al-Basri, known as Al-Jahiz (781–868 or 869 CE) wrote an encyclopaedic Book of Animals in which he pondered on such topics as effects of the environment on the likelihood of an animal to survive and food chains. Eighty-seven folios of the Book of Animals (about one-tenth of the original text) are preserved in the Ambrosiana Library in Milan (Italy). This collection (a copy of the original) dates from the 14th century and bears the name of the last owner, Abd al-Rahman al-Maghribi. Fortunately Khalifa Ezzat did recently state in a Friday sermon at London Central Mosque: “[t]aqwa is not a passive idea. It is not merely a feeling or an emotion. Taqwa is an active concept. It is about action, doing good and positive actions in preparation for the hereafter.”

Examples of action