ISLAM AND SDGs
Plant a tree, Get a reward and Save the planet
Allah says in the holy Quran “And certainly We have explained in this Qur'an every kind of matter (examples) to mankind”
The seventeen
development goals are major concerns in Islam because of the role they play in
the development of humanity. There are some Muslims who thing that the SDGs
have nothing to do with Islam because they think that the goals were not
mentioned in the Quran and the hadith; that is the wrong concept, all the goals
have one way or the other been mentioned in Islam either directly or indirectly
in the Quran or the sunnah as quoted in the above Quranic verse; therefore,
Muslims have more role to play in achieving the goals because their religion
was the first religion to make mention of them for more than one thousand four
hundred years ago. In achieving the goals, let Muslims not forget that they
have to achieve the goals very constructively according to the guidelines and
principles of Islam.
Goal 13 (Climate Action) of the SDGs is concerned
with protecting the planet from future disasters of global warming or the like
of it and it is noted and agreed upon that one the best useful methods to
prevent global warming is planting more trees and protecting the forest for the
future generations. Islam has encouraged Muslims to plant trees and to protect
planted trees as quoted by Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) in the following hadith “it is a charitable donation when a Muslim plants a tree or grows a crop and the birds, human or cattle eat from it” {al-Bukhari in al-Sahih, 2:817 hadith #2195}. The basic foundation and instruction of the above hadith is to
plant a tree which is the most important methods of achieveing goal 13 of the
SDGs; the hadith also talked about what might be the outcome of planting a tree, either people or animals will benefit or eat from it which also supports goal 2
and goal 5 of the SDGs whose aims are to end hunger and protect life on land
respectively. In a summary, the above hadith is generally encouraging toward
agriculture which is one of the ways to sustain the world and also not only its
people, but its lives in general.
Islam did not only order to plant trees
but it also calls to the protection of planted trees i.e. not to cut them down
for unnecessary reasons. The messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H)
used to say to his
companions whenever they were getting ready for war “Do not drown or burn down date-palm trees. Do not
cut down fruit bearing trees. Do not demolish a church. And do not kill any
children or old people or women” {Sunan
Al Kubra 9:85 hadith #17904}. The above hadith clearly begin with the prohibition of cutting
down trees even during war; the hadith also emphasized on fruit bearing trees.
The hadith also prohibited Muslims from demolishing churches for the respect of
other religions. And lastly, the hadith stretched on one of the focus points of
the SDGs which has to do with women and children protection. There is a clear
and emphasized prohibition from killing children and women because the children
are innocent and are the youth and future leaders of tomorrow and the women are
the engineers of a brighter tomorrow; therefore, if they are killed during
wars, then the future is at risk. That is why the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H)
prohibited the damaging of trees, churches and the killing of the innocent
children, women and elders.
Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters in Islam
and in humanity, rush now, take action, plant a tree, earn a reward and save
our planet.
BY:
MOHAMMED A. SUMAWORO
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