One thing I was immediately drawn to when I learned about Islam was its connectedness to nature and green way of living.
The holy Qur’an is full of statements about the beauty, the healing power and wonders of nature, and several times it points out that we, the human species, have to care for this planet.
Also the life of our dear Prophet Muhammad (sas) was a beautiful example of someone living very connected to the earth and deeply caring for his environment.
The word “Islam” roots in the Arabic word “salaam” which means peace.
And did you know that green is the color that officially represents Islam? – Green is the color of peace and patience, of balance and tolerance. It is the color of nature and harmony.
We, as human beings, are here to take care of this world in our best ways. We are responsible of treating it peaceful, well, with respect and wisdom. Such as the Prophet (sas) gave us a great example of how to live a green life, Muslims have the duty to follow it, trying to live as green as possible.
There is so much wisdom in our faith and so many good advices found in the Qur’an, but with modern life, new technologies and an always faster running and hurrying society lots of it get lost. The more we opt to make life easier and more efficient, the farer we move away from our real being, from our real meaning: the fine senses die, intuition falls asleep and the mind rushes around. We loose faith in old wisdom and in our own natural power. We become slaves of modernity, kept in a machine that makes us believe that we couldn’t live without it, promising to bring us towards “progress”.
I am sure that “progress” leads to a dead end.
I see this rushing as an enormous danger for humanity and I feel a big urge to flee from it. The longer I live out here in the mountains, mostly away from modernity, the more I feel re-connected not only to nature but also to my own self, to my intuition and to the world around, subhanallah. The more I open myself to the wilderness, the safer I feel in the hands of God. The more I open my soul, the more it feels as if my mind and spirit get sensitive and my senses receive unseen messages from mother earth, alhamdulillah.
I want to green my life in every possible aspect. I feel the deep wish to reconnect with nature and to go back to the roots as much as possible. I am drawn to self-sufficient and sustainable ways of living and I feel enthralled by examples on how to do so.
In this new category “green living” I will share parts of this way, inchaallah.
Re-connecting begins with little acts such as buying wooden things instead of plastic, by eating organic instead of processed food, by walking by foot instead of taking the car, by kneading dough by hand instead with the kitchen machine, by mending or repurposing clothes instead of buying new, or by simply growing a pot of herbs beside the window while open yourself to the wonder of nature… re-connecting can happen everywhere at anytime and it can be done by everyone!
Here’s my (incomplete) list of approaching a green way of living:
- composting
- eating local seasonal organic foods
- minimizing water usage (short showers)
- composting toilet instead of water closet
- home growing and gardening without pesticides
- using natural medicine and remedies
- line-drying the laundry
- eating home-made (yoghurt, bread, jam,…)
- mending and repurposing old and worn clothes
- walking, riding (bicycle or mule) or using public transport instead of using the car
- using natural things like baking soda and vinegar for cleaning
- cloth menstrual pads for woman
- cloth diapers for babies
- cloth wipes for cleaning
- cloth wipes instead of toilet paper see here
- using organic washing detergents
- recycling waste
- wash and reusing alum foil and plastic bags for packaging
- reusing old paper for papmaché, for making new paper
- turning off lights
- washing laundry on lower temperature and shorter programs
- using outdoors/indoor clothes; wear clothes until dirty
- meal planning
- using solar power and other natural energy
- shopping with reusable fabric bags
- buying local, used or quality stuff
- taking care about our own soul to nourish our intuition and connectedness with nature.
To be continued…
Inspired by the great books of John Seymour, the father of self-sufficiency, and also by several blogs, such as http://earthandliving.blogspot.com and http://theorganicsister.com/
Books from John Seymour: “The fat of the Land” and “The self sufficient life and how to live it” .
