Experts Call on [P]GCC Countries to Take Lead in Islamic Environmental Issues
-- Scholars and experts on Islamic ecological and environmental matters stressed that the countries of the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council have a profound role to play in spreading and propagating the Islamic message on environment.
"The Gulf countries have a major role in promoting environmental issues. They are the leaders and they follow the example of Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him). He was a leader in promoting all aspects of ethics and today one of our main ethical problems is the environmental problem," Dr. Mawil Izzidien, a lecturer in religion and Islamic Studies at the University of Wales, UK, told KUNA.
He said several Persian Gulf countries like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are doing a lot of work on environmental issues.
The first green book on Islam and the environment was published some two decades ago in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and has been republished seven times, he said.
Izzidien said the Muslim world needs to move from the theory to practice and needs to establish chairs at the universities on Islam and environment.
Izzidien taught in King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia and in 1980 the United Nations published his first study on the subject of environment.
He is considered to be the world's leading authority on the subject and is the author of the book "The environmental Dimensions of Islam." He is also the founding member of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists.
"I am appealing now through KUNA for the establishment of a chair on environment. There is no chair till now on Islam and environment," he said.
"There is a need to start this chair in Europe and I am happy to help in any way that I can. These kinds of chairs need to be established in the Arab-Muslim world but first it has to be in Europe to give it more effect and resonance," he clarified.
Izzidien said he is very optimistic about the increasing awareness of Islam and the environment in the world.
On his part, Director of Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences based in Birmingham, UK, Fazlun Khalid told KUNA that the [P]GCC countries have a profound role to play.
"They need to support this movement. First they have to take it upon themselves and realize the value of the Islamic message on environment," he said.
Since mid 1980s, Khalid said he has devoted his energies to promoting Islamic environmentalism in both its theological traditional beliefs.
He is recognized as the foremost expert on ecology from the Islamic perspective.
"We work with anybody who would work with us, NGOs, with governments and academics. Our reputation is to producing successful results on the ground," he said, pointing to his successful projects in stopping fishing by dynamites in Zanzibar, working with madrasas in Indonesia and reforestation in Pakistan.
Both the Muslim experts were invited by the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday to listen what Islam has to say about environmental issues.
"There are very, very positive Islamic environmental messages that can be got out and the [P]GCC countries could be profoundly important in this area of concern," stressed Khalid.
"We inherited a planet that was livable and we need to leave a legacy of planet that can be lived by our children. Islam has not only a profound and important message to give to the world on environmental issues but it also has the solutions," he told KUNA.
"The Arab and Muslim world should take theses teachings and publicize them and take it on their education system. Non-Muslims are amazed by the teachings of Islam on environment," he added.
Source: KUNA
He said several Persian Gulf countries like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are doing a lot of work on environmental issues.
The first green book on Islam and the environment was published some two decades ago in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and has been republished seven times, he said.
Izzidien said the Muslim world needs to move from the theory to practice and needs to establish chairs at the universities on Islam and environment.
Izzidien taught in King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia and in 1980 the United Nations published his first study on the subject of environment.
He is considered to be the world's leading authority on the subject and is the author of the book "The environmental Dimensions of Islam." He is also the founding member of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists.
"I am appealing now through KUNA for the establishment of a chair on environment. There is no chair till now on Islam and environment," he said.
"There is a need to start this chair in Europe and I am happy to help in any way that I can. These kinds of chairs need to be established in the Arab-Muslim world but first it has to be in Europe to give it more effect and resonance," he clarified.
Izzidien said he is very optimistic about the increasing awareness of Islam and the environment in the world.
On his part, Director of Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences based in Birmingham, UK, Fazlun Khalid told KUNA that the [P]GCC countries have a profound role to play.
"They need to support this movement. First they have to take it upon themselves and realize the value of the Islamic message on environment," he said.
Since mid 1980s, Khalid said he has devoted his energies to promoting Islamic environmentalism in both its theological traditional beliefs.
He is recognized as the foremost expert on ecology from the Islamic perspective.
"We work with anybody who would work with us, NGOs, with governments and academics. Our reputation is to producing successful results on the ground," he said, pointing to his successful projects in stopping fishing by dynamites in Zanzibar, working with madrasas in Indonesia and reforestation in Pakistan.
Both the Muslim experts were invited by the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday to listen what Islam has to say about environmental issues.
"There are very, very positive Islamic environmental messages that can be got out and the [P]GCC countries could be profoundly important in this area of concern," stressed Khalid.
"We inherited a planet that was livable and we need to leave a legacy of planet that can be lived by our children. Islam has not only a profound and important message to give to the world on environmental issues but it also has the solutions," he told KUNA.
"The Arab and Muslim world should take theses teachings and publicize them and take it on their education system. Non-Muslims are amazed by the teachings of Islam on environment," he added.
Source: KUNA
