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snakelegs
06-13-2008, 04:07 AM
Islam, Nature and the Environment

these are transcripts of 3 BBC programs from '96. i liked them, so wanted to share. i will just post the first paragraph of each of the 3 articles - those interested, check out the link at the end.

1
Islam, Nature and the Environment (1)
The Whole Earth as a Mosque
by Gai Eaton

One of the oddest things about the people who reject what they call "organised religion" in favour of strange cults is that they so readily replace the profound with the superficial. The great religions have a breadth and a depth which could never be explored, even in a lifetime, whereas the cults, when their surface glamour is scraped away, are empty and narrow. But it is inevitable that the believers in the great Faiths find in them more than they can absorb – dare one say more than they can use? – and often neglect aspects of their religion which do not seem immediately relevant to their lives. This, I believe, has been the case with a majority of Muslims who have tended to
ignore what the Quran has to say about our environment and regarding our obligations towards the animal creation.

2
Islam, Nature and the Environment (2)
Rediscovering the Signs of God in Nature
by Gai Eaton

Last week I drew attention to the importance which the Quran attaches to the environment, the natural world, as a "reminder" which helps us to keep God always present in our awareness. Nothing in our surroundings is quite what it seems, or rather nothing is only what it seems, and, for the Muslim, it is a part of faith to look upon all things with "seeing eyes". But to perceive, even dimly, these inescapable "signs of God" requires a child's eye preserved into maturity. The Prophet is reported to have prayed: "Lord, increase me in marvelling!" This is how a child sees the world, fresh from the Hand of God and full of wonders but, with the passage of the years, the vision fades. Yet, in the words of the Quran, "It is not the eyes that grow blind but the hearts within the breasts that grow blind". Imbued with faith, the heart may still regain its sight, its insight.

3
Islam, Nature and the Environment (3)
Honouring the Animal Creation
by Gai Eaton

I mentioned in my first talk of this series that many Muslims seem to have ignored the implications of what the Quran tells us about the natural world and about the importance of the animal creation. Not only the Quran. The recorded sayings of the Prophet, the hadith literature, refer again and again to these aspects of the Faith.

http://thebook.org/tbf-articles/article_85.shtml
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