SoulI was about 18 when I was first introduced to the idea of Islam and nature. Intuitively, the idea floated beautifully in my heart, but mentally, I was surprised. The man who lit the light was my professor for Environmental Studies at Sweet Briar College, Professor Sang Hwang. He was a Chinese American, Birkenstock-sporting elegant man who named his son Shiraz (light in Persian). It was a private college. Funds were low but he managed to accumulate some together to bring over an environmental scientist from Pakistan to talk with our small class about intention (niyat) and its role in Islam and Nature.
"Who and what is included in the intention of your actions? Do you think about the earth, the water, the air, the vast life around you and other than human beings who rely on a healthy environment?" Both men were so soft and poetic in their speech, one could feel the yūgen that filled their hearts and breath. Yūgen is a Japanese word that expresses a deep felt emotion triggered by the mahima (wonder) of nature - a universe that is too textured and deep to verbalise.In the countryside, you may have heard the song “Ki boli thomaro, mahima thomaro, Alhamdulillah, Alahamdulillah” (What can I say of your mystery and wonder, I am grateful to thee Allah, I am grateful to thee). In popular culture, there is a scene where Hrithik Rowshan, playing the Emperor Akbar in the film Jodha Akbar, praying by the grave of Khwaja MoinuddinChisti (defender of the poor). Akbar was asking Allah for divine guidance on uniting warring India while standing in the background of a beautiful lustrous tree. He then received the idea to marry Princess Jodha so that both Hindu and Muslim pilgrims could travel safely in Ajmer.
Illustrated in the scene was the yūgen Akbar felt, with the bright green tree radiant against Chisti's white dargah (shrine). The tree personifies hope, the continuation of life and divinity on earth.
MindBeloved Muhammad, peace be upon him, encouraged people to consume less, to protect biological and cultural diversity, to repair, reuse, recycle (just as he did with everything from pots to shoes) and revere Allah by being kind to creation.
Some additional advice included:
1. Plant a tree, even if it is your last deed.
2. When you plant a garden, you create a small biosphere for other beings - one of the greatest offerings to Allah.
3. Include biological and cultural diversity in your intentions so that they may also thrive.
4. Do not be selfish in caring for other beings.
5. Manage water by caring for it's vitality and share it free of cost. It is an inalienable right to provide the sustenance of all life.BodyAre you taking the time to commune with nature? It is excessively harder to find it within walking distance these days but make the effort, for Allah exists in all things. A wonderful Tagore song celebrates the light that is spread from tree to tree to our hearts, “Tumi je surer agun lagiye dile mor prana” (there is an inherent assumption that there is no separation between the divine and nature). There is a beautiful rendition by Debabrata Biswas as well. All nature is also a hymn to Allah. These hymns are pure energy, which can bring us closer to ourselves and the infinite divine. They have the potential to unlock our secrets, and our deepest questions. Wasn't it Newton who was sitting beneath an apple tree contemplating the mysteries of the universe when the falling of an apple led his mind to the vast moon and the idea of a connecting force: gravity?
Wasn't it Buddha who was sitting beneath a bodhi tree in contemplation when he was able to unfurl the history of creation - of self and the planet in his DNA, the rules of Karma (or the energy in cause and effect), and freedom from attachment?
Wasn't it Rabia Basri who would meditate amongst trees at night on the magnificence of creation and praying for the freedom of her enslaver from his self-enslavement, which also led to her freedom?
Nature has a key. Why not layer our hearts with Yūgen? Allah is in the sublime. The sublime will free us.
