ISNA Commemorates Earth Day

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) wishes everyone a Happy Earth Day!  On this important day, we remember the Islamic imperative to care for all of God’s creation and would like to highlight the work of two organizations — Interfaith Power and Light and Green Muslims.  Both were featured in Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly on PBS this past weekend and we recommend you take a look! Interfaith Power & Light (IPL) is a national interfaith organization that helps congregations address global warming by being better stewards of energy and advocates for government policies to stem climate change.  This campaign intends to protect the earth’s ecosystems, safeguard the health of all creation, and ensure sufficient, sustainable energy for all.  It also takes special care to advocate on behalf of vulnerable people and communities that are the most heavily impacted by climate change.  Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, ISNA National Director for Interfaith and Community Alliances, has been involved in Interfaith Power & Light for many years, including the local chapter Greater Washington Interfaith Power & Light.  There are a total of 38 affiliates across the country.  Dr. Syeed spoke on a panel to IPL leaders this past week about the need to care for the earth and our natural environment as part of our Islamic obligation to live with balance and moderation.  “Each religion prohibits extravagance and the wasteful use of our natural resources,” he said. Green Muslims is an American Muslim organization founded in 2007 that seeks to reemphasize environmental stewardship as the unique role and responsibility entrusted upon humanity by God.  For Earth Day, Green Muslims launched the Green Scripture Project, an online database of environment-related verses, hadith and traditional wisdom.   The project presents a crowdsourced platform to capture, organize and encourage reflection upon scripture and wisdom from the Islamic tradition related to the environment.  They encourage everyone to submit to the database.  Green Muslims was featured heavily in PBS Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly this past weekend, and anextended video of Green Muslims director Sarah Jawaid is also featured online.