Is environmentalism polytheism? Are inshallah and mashallah cop outs?

No and sometimes. Images of dirty f****** hippies and treehuggers aside, creation has been given over to us for stewardship. And our job as stewards is to protect the trees, along with the soil, the air, the ocean, and the flora and fauna that live in them and under them.

Definition of cop out:
1. An act or instance of copping out; reneging; evasion: "The governor's platform was a cop-out."
2. To avoid fulfilling a commitment or responsibility; renege: "copped out on my friends"; "copped out by ducking the issue."

So you say you take your duty seriously to protect the Ummah? Well then, the most important issue of self protection right now and for the foreseeable future is fighting global climate change. I attended a session at ICNA about green muslims and environmental awareness in the muslim world. Naturally--as with the session on social services I attended--the majority of those in attendance were women. More muslim men need to step up and take responsibility for the environment. I find "personal responsibility" to be tough to talk about in muslim culture, where all credit is given to Allah for all things. Sometimes "inshallah" and "mashallah" are cop outs. If people are harmed because of environmental degradation, it's because you let it happen, or you took no action to stop it. Take personal responsibility. Saying inshallah and ignoring it is weak and passive, passing the buck to Allah, shrinking away from your duty to be steward and vice regent here on the planet.

Muslim elites making money on industries that pollute and destroy the environment would likely look at the damage being done, shrugg, and say "Inshallah." The faith and sincerity of their inshallah is deeply compromised by the conflict of interest between their roles as stewards of creation and profit-maximizing captains of industry. I would see true faith in a brother or sister who said inshallah but had also done everything possible to scrub the pollutants out of whatever effluent is flowing out of his/her drains or rising out of the smokestacks.

And what about the brothers and sisters who hold up that pillar of the faith and give zagat to Islamic charities to help the Ummah? The next time you give to charity, give your money to an organization that is fighting global climate change. Whether or not the organization is secular makes no difference, because your money will serve to protect the Ummah. Yes, I know, all those little fiefdoms of human power in muslim places--the private muslim schools, islamic centers, masjids, etc., will make claims on your zagat and push you heavily through family connections to give to them, but you know in your heart that the greatest good can be worked for the Ummah by fighting climate change and environmental degradation.

I was prompted to blog about this by this story today about the second generation of Bhopal poisoning victims. The writer of the story cites the apathy of the Indian government. But I suspect this is better attributed to the fact that many of the Bhopal victims are muslim, and poor.

(Begin quote) In the Shiv Nagar slum about half a mile from the factory, there is a boy, Akash, who was born with an empty socket for a left eye. Now 6, he cannot see properly or speak. He is a cheerful child who plays in the lanes near his house.

(Mashallah is a cop out. Inshallah is a cop out.)

His father, Shobha Ram, a maker of sweets who bought land here many years after the gas leak and built himself a two-room house, said the boy's afflictions were caused by the hand-pumped well from where his family drew water on the edge of the sludge pond for years. He said it had not occurred to him that the water could be laced with pesticides.

(Mashallah is a cop out. Inshallah is a cop out.)

We knew the gas incident took place," he said. "We never thought the contaminated water would come all the way to our house."

(Mashallah is a cop out. Inshallah is a cop out.)

The stories repeat themselves in the nearby slums. In Blue Moon, Muskan, a 2-year-old girl, cannot walk, speak or understand what is happening around her. Her father, Anwar, blames the water.

(Mashallah is a cop out. Inshallah is a cop out.)

In Arif Nagar, Nawab and Hassan Mian, brothers who are 8 and 12, move through their house like newly hatched birds, barely able to stand. They have no control over their muscles. Their mother, Fareeda Bi, is unsure of exactly what caused their ailment, but she, too, blames the water.

(Mashallah is a cop out. Inshallah is a cop out.)

"There are more children like this in the neighborhood," she said, "who cannot walk, who cannot see."

(Mashallah is a cop out. Inshallah is a cop out.)

To compound the tragedy, there is no way to know to what extent the water is to blame. The government suspended long-term public health studies many years ago. (End quote)

Mashallah is a cop out. Inshallah is a cop out. Take personal responsibility and do something about it.