Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet

263 Pages·2010·0.83 MB·English

by  Ibrahim Abdul-Matin

More Praise for Green Deen
“An important book for everyone! Muslims will be inspired by what
their fellow believers are doing to be stewards of the Earth, and all
people will gain a more complete and accurate picture of how Islam
sees the world.”
—Imam Siraj Wahaj, Masjid Al-Taqwa, Brooklyn, New York
“Green Deen adds new thinking and allies to help solve the persistent
social, energy, and infrastructure challenges that we all face as a
planet, as nations, and in our own communities, every day.”
—Majora Carter, founder, The Majora Carter Group, cohost of Sundance
Channel’s The Green, and host of NPR’s The Promised Land
“Green Deen connects faith to environment to social justice. It’s a
guide for all of us trying to save people and the planet.”
—Rami Nashashibi, Executive Director, Inner-City Muslim Action
Network
“While there are many belief systems on this planet, few have been
as deeply maligned as Islam in recent years. In that context, it is a
beautiful and powerful call that Ibrahim Abdul-Matin puts out to his
community and to the world, crying out that within Islam are the very
tenets which are needed to save the world—for Muslims and non-
Muslims. It is an act of faith to be sustainable...that is the essential
truth which this book teaches us all.”
—Adrienne Maree Brown, Executive Director, The Ruckus Society
“Ibrahim Abdul-Matin is one of the premier scholars and practitioners
joining the green economy to Islam. His work reminds environmen-
talism of the spirituality in deep ecology and provides a pathway for
an economic system to work within a framework of reverence.”
—Nikki Henderson, Executive Director, People’s Grocery
“Is this a Muslim book about the environment, an environmental book
about Islam, or a poem and a prayer to the unity of all creation? It
is all of these and more—Green Deen is a stunning hybrid creation
from an extraordinary and wise new literary voice. Please welcome
Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, black American and Muslim, to the pantheon
of important environmental writers.”
—William Upski Wimsatt, founder, League of Young Voters, and author
of Please Don’t Bomb the Suburbs
“Green Deen shows how the authentic religious values and practices
of Islam should lead to a wholesome, healthy, and compassionate
lifestyle that benefi ts all living things. Abdul-Matin writes in acces-
sible, intelligent, and motivating language, making this an excellent
book for all readers.”
—Ingrid Mattson, PhD, President, The Islamic Society of North
America, and Director, The Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the
Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary
GreenDeen
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GreenDeen
What Islam Teaches
About Protecting the Planet
Ibrahim Abdul-Matin
Green Deen
Copyright © 2010 by Ibrahim Abdul-Matin
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distrib-
uted, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying,
recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior writ-
ten permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations
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First Edition
Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-60509-464-9
PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-60509-466-3
IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-60509-946-0
2010-1
Copyeditor: Mary Anne Stewart; Proofer: Kirsten Janene-Nelson; Indexer:
Gerald Van Ravenswaay; Cover design: Irene Morris Design; Cover image:
Rana Muhahid Ali
I dedicate this book to
My parents
Khadijah Matin, Ishmawil K. Abdul-Matin, and Auntie Amina
My siblings
Karim Jr., Jehan, Adilah, Tauhirah, and Ali
In loving memory of my grandparents
Samuel Graham Nixon Sr. and Lena Bailey Nixon
William Gaitha Pegg Sr. and Wilma Hayes Pegg
My wife
Fatima Ashraf
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O You who have set out on the path of inner development, do
not read my book only as a poetical work, or a book of magic,
but read it with understanding; and for this a man must be
hungry for something, dissatisfi ed with himself and this world.
—Farid Ud-Din Attar