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The Eco Muslim Green Mosque Guide - What Are Your Ideas?

As-salam`alaykum, greetings of peace and environmentally friendly blessings. I have a seed of an idea to produce a green mosque guide t...



As-salam`alaykum, greetings of peace and environmentally friendly blessings.

I have a seed of an idea to produce a green mosque guide that will be brought to the mosques of Britain. I'd really appreciate your involvement, no matter who you are. These are my thoughts...

Whenever I visit my local mosques in Yorkshire, England, I'm really excited to meet new people and check out how they run their hub of 'eco-muslimness'. Britain's mosques have a fairly average level of community involvement and environmental projects but I've yet to see a standard eco-guide.
"It is the mosque's role to make the location its in, beautiful." - The Eco Muslim

Without ecological and community awareness a mosque is not as pro-active as it could be. The mosque becomes simply a space for obligatory prayer, Qur'anic memorisation, and then you go home. If attendees are also unaware of the mosque's "footprint", there's going to be minimum outreach to neighbours and non-Muslims.

Is The Masjid The Centre Of Society?
In Islam, there are branches, or levels of faith. Islam (the path) is the skeleton on which imaan (belief) reaches upwards. Ehsaan however, is an aspect Muslims have forgotten. Ehsaan is the depth of Muslim faith. Ehsaan means to make something ugly, beautiful.

I believe that if each mosque in Britain, and surely across Europe, America and the industralised world, is to be a role-model for community care and eco-activism, it needs to put belief into action.

An Ideal Eco-Mosque
It is the mosque's role to make the location its in, beautiful. A mosque is primarily a spiritual centre, developing Muslim's faith and counselling people's questions with answers. An ideal mosque though, needs to engage with its congregants' lives. It needs to keep the streets clean, free from pollutants that affect people's health and standard of living - drugs, addiction, bullying, noise, irresponsible littering, congestion, crime.

Projects organised by the mosque need to be more than fundraisers, and they need to be more than "just for Muslims".

I'm a firm believer in women leaders and empowering children, which is why it disheartens me to attend a mosque where the Muslim women are sent to the dungeon for prayer, three streets away.

The Green Mosque Guide For British Mosques
Thus, I have found there is a strong need in England for a guide to cleaner, and greener mosques. This guide will be researched and documented, backed with resources that are designed to teach, demonstrate and provide advice.

And so, I intend to make one insha-Allah, God willing, with help and dedication. With truckloads of help and dedication!

What The Green Guide Will Contain
There are 4 main areas the green mosque guide aims to cover:
  • Community gardens
    • Allocating garden space for vegetables, fruit and herbs
    • Providing mosque members information to grow from seed and in pots
    • Composting, saving mulch, planting trees projects 
  • Wudhu (washroom) areas
    • Water management, minimising waste
    • Re-using water
    • Installing sensory taps (faucets) and outdoor facilities
  • Energy
    • Monitoring and reducing electric and gas consumption
    • Efficient lighting sources
    • Solar panels, passive heating
    • Developing insulation
  • Eco-children
    • Empowerment through ecological projects
    • Litter picking, street clean-ups
    • Eco-stationery, Qur'an/hadith activities
    • Recycling projects
My immediate concerns are on the current members of most mosques. Of course no two mosques are alike, and nor at its members. But I've noticed a pattern. Fewer women are on the mosque committees and the committees themselves are made up of grumpy men. Change is a struggle, particularly implementing ecological practices but I have faith that with the right support and intentions, it can be done. Insha-Allah, God willing.

So, I'm putting it out there. What would you like to see in the Green Mosque Guide? What environmental and health-wise practices does your mosque already have? Comments are taken on board!

If you're a sustainable/environment organisation or eco-dude, get in touch. Let's make the world beautiful: info@theecomuslim.com.

Peace + eco-jihad
Zaufishan.

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Post a Comment

  1. Shabana Basheer4 Nov 2011, 08:44:00

    I love this! My mosque (Palmer's Green in North London) is actually brilliant in terms of greenness - pop in and visit! They'd probably be very happy to give you a tour. ... And we'll be starting a community garden there in Spring inshallah :) www.mcec.org.uk

    ReplyDelete
  2. Visiting your mosque in London would be fantastic and a valued opportunity to see how eco-practices are used in the cosmo city. Great to hear from you Shabana! As-salam`alaykum, peace, I'll be in touch insha-Allah.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am not a muslim but i needed to find out what muslims could do to be more eco freindly. And this page has helped me and taught me some new facts! So thank you!!!!

    ReplyDelete

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