Green guide for Muslim households published in time for Ramadan

	Lanterns hang from trees in celebration of the start of Ramadan. Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/

A green guide for Western Muslim households has been published in the UK in time for the start of this Ramadan month.

The 20-page booklet explains the impact of climate change using Islamic references and also explains why Muslims must do their bit for the environment.

Its writers and publishers - UK Lifemakers, the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES) – describe it as “a simple, practical handbook that looks at different aspects of the Muslim household and suggests changes that can have a big impact on climate change. These include decisions about domestic food, water, laundry, heating, electricity, transport and recycling.”

So for example, recommendations for household decisiions include:

	"We sent water down from the sky in due measure and lodged it in the earth — We have the power to take it all away if We so wish". (Qur’an 23:18)

* thinking before you buy;

* demanding local and organic, seasonal food - recognizing that produce out of season has usually been imported by air

* buying organic milk (which takes 1/3 less energy than non-organic milk)

* buying everyday items in bulk to save on packaging.

* changing older boilers for more efficient condensing boilers

* not using air conditioning.

Specific to Muslim households are recommendations to use water sparingly, when performing wudhu or ghusl – and asking yourself if you really need to make more than one Hajj or Umrah journey.

“Surely brothers and sisters, in our moments of reflection, as we gaze around at our Lord’s signs and admire his majesty in the beauty of the trees that provide us with delicious fruits, the clouds from which fall the nourishing rain and the vast oceans which man harvests and upon which he is carried great distances; we must surely recognise that the earth and everything in it is a trust placed upon us. We are temporary custodians and this is another of Allah’s tests for us to see how we care for our environment and all things within it.” Amr Khaled – from LifeMakers

There are quotations from the Qur’an for each subject. For example, the page on cycling rather than driving includes a quotation from the Qur’an 16:8

“[He created …] horses, mules, and donkeys for you to ride and use for show, and other things you know nothing about.”

At the end of the 20 page booklet is a checklist titled 'How green is my family?'- which is designed to “give households something positive to aim towards”.

The booklet has been printed in time for Ramadan, the month in which Muslims are most reflective of their actions and in which the act of fasting is a reminder both of simplicity and of gratitude.

Production costs were met by Muslim Hands, a Nottingham- based charity.

The Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES) is an Islamic Environmental NGO, based in Birmingham with projects all over world, working for betterment of all, in our only home, planet Earth.

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