Earth is a Mosque: Green your Deen in 30 days

Green Your Deen in 30 Days (Click on the image to download the guide)

I have already posted a blog on going green this Ramadan as well as publishing an article on the ‘Ramadan Compact’  in Green Prophet but the latest initiative by the ‘Green Deen’ author really deserves some backing.

Brother Ibrahim Abdul-Matin has put together a great little guide with some  very simple steps that you, your family, your friends, your neighbors, and your masjid can all do – steps for the individual and steps for the collective – to reduce waste, save water, conserve energy, and provide food to as many as possible.

And as its Ramadan- there really isn’t a better time to do it. Remember it takes 30 days to install a good habit so lets start now and take these positive habits forward after Ramadan too.

As Abdul-Matin reminds us:

Earth is a mosque. If we can pray anywhere, everywhere is sacred.  Protect the planet from piles of plastic and dried up water supplies.  Simple steps can make sweeping changes.

Ramadan Mubarak!

Green ‘Ground Zero Mosque’

The ‘controversial’ Ground Zero mosque has been in the news again- but this time for something more positive. Once it’s built, organizers behind the mosque insist it will boast green LEED credentials which will inspire Muslims and non-Muslims alike to take up the environemntal cause. Plans for the mosque have been dogged by harsh criticism from the American right as ‘tactlesss’ and an affront to the memory of 9/11.  However  Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, a Green Muslim from the city revealed that the mosque will be a green, open space for everyone and will “provide an opportunity for all people to gain a more complete and accurate picture of how Islam sees the world.”

Author of ‘Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet‘, Abdul-Matin also added that the mosque is more like a community centre and has been renamed Park51 to reflect its green concern as well as its openess. Reactions from the green community have so far been positive with change.org stating that it was a ‘symbol of a better planet’  with “the potential to help heal the wounds of September 11th” and “harness the power of Islam (and of all world religions) to contribute to some planetary healing too.”

Image via Panoramas

Profile: Green Deen Author Ibrahim Abdul-Matin

Image via Elan Magazine

Time to profile another Green Muslim- and this time it’s the guy who recently revealed that the Ground Zero Mosque is going to be Green!

I think it’s great to recognize the work Green Muslims are doing worldwide and this Brooklyn Brother is an inspiring environmental community organiser with alot of wisdom to offer. Ibrahim Abdul-Matin,  author of ‘Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet’, spoke to Elan about his Muslim-American activism and the interview highlights are below!

elan: When did you start working as an environmentalist?

IA: I’ve always been involved in environmentalism. That’s been a driving force throughout my entire life. I’ve worked with Outward Bound,  I was a director of youth programs at Prospect Park in Brooklyn and I’ve lead outdoor adventure tours in the woods.

This is just an opportunity for me to take the three sides of me – the social justice part of me, the environmentalist part of me, and then the Muslim part into one sort of tightly woven expression of what’s happening today.