Ask Shaykh YQ – Episode 46

What is Islam stance on global warming? What is Islam stance on global warming? This is the question as it is phrased to me on

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So we answer this question today by as usual, dissecting the question. Firstly, before we get to the quote unquote traditional answer,

we need to be very, very careful about assuming Islam always says something specifically. This is a phrasing that we need to think very carefully about. The only time that we can definitively say, Islam says something is that if the Quran is explicit, and the oma has agreed, then we can say Islam says Allah is the Creator, no problem. Islam says the Quran is the bucola. No problem. So a brother is asking what is Islam stance on global warming, as if all of Islam has agreed on one stance, and then as if I am the spokesperson, officially designated by Islam with a capital I, that whatever I say, and the reason I say this is because what happens is this, this is good, simplistic assumption

that whatever problem I'm facing, there's going to be one answer one definitive answer, and the person in front of me will answer it and solve it because he has studied the origin. And we have to be very, very careful in this regard. Imagine if somebody said, What does Islam say about the factors that break Waldo? And this is something the Quran talks about? And the sooner talks about Can anyone definitively answer Islam says these factors break will do or will have to say what? There's difference of opinion. And by the way, all formats have several different lists. Can you believe all formats have is have a different list? So Muslims hum did Allah Allah has allowed this,

a lot of there are narrations from the Sahaba the the love within Islam is a mercy. So Muslims have differed over even things. The Quran and Sunnah is explicit about like the other kind of pseudo and tahara what do you think about an issue that doesn't even exist when the Quran came down global warming, and then you want to say what is Islam stance? And I remember last month, somebody asked me, texted me and I'm not exaggerating. It's exactly what it is. They texted. It was a group of students of knowledge and Michel neuroma, what is Islam's stance on the right to bear arms? The second amendment as if all of us have to have the exact same opinion. And Islam is going to tell us

whether we should be pro Second Amendment or anti Second Amendment, you understand this question is problematic. And before I even try to attempt, I need to make sure we understand because and by the way, this is a joke here. If you really want to effect change in the pro Second Amendment lobby, all you need to do is wear our traditional DC garb, thobes turbans, and big t shirts, Muslims for the Second Amendment, all of a sudden checks and balances and background checks and everything will come. That is the most effective way to actually get some gun reform. We should start a group called muslims for the Second Amendment. And then we appear like Muslims have other lines appearing and

then we we go and petition with our guns but Muslims Second Amendment, we want the Second Amendment and you will see Mashallah tabarrok Allah, the NRA will complain anyway, that's besides the point. Okay. That was a complete joke. By the way, that was a complete joke, just just just so that you're aware.

But my point is that we need to remove this understanding that Islam has a concrete answer on any question that comes to your mind. And it reminds me of something that we find in the books of history that happened to the hotter giants, the first sec that broke away. They kept on criticizing audibility law, one by saying, We want the judgment of the Quran. In the law. One Last Judgment. We don't want choice. We want a love token. We don't want your hokum we want the Qurans verdict, not your verdict. And it is narrated in the books of history that Once added to the law called their leaders in the Kufa and the main Masjid and he called for a big copy of the Quran to be brought out.

And in those days the most half was not this convenient little booklet, the most half was bigger than this desk because it's written on Campbell parchment right. The most have full must have no exaggeration, it is almost as large as this desk. 34 foot high

Massive people have to bring it out. They brought it out and they put it in front of the rhodiola. One and the leaders of the Hutterites and what was their slogan? We want the Quran. We want the Quran. So Ali said Quran speak.

Silence. Koran judge between us. Silence. Oran, we want your verdict. Silence. I didn't say anything about the Aloha and one of the Hutterites said, Oh Ali rhodiola horn. The Quran is not going to speak back to like, what's wrong with you? So Ali said, if the Quran is not going to speak back, how do you want me to judge by the Quran? What do you mean by the Quran? The Quran has to be interpreted by men.

I have to interpret now I'm the leader and I'm giving you the laws. You see the slogan was a simplistic attempt to negate it with the loved one. It sounds so good. We want the Quran What? What do you mean? Who's going to decide what is the verdict about whatever issues taking place? We want the Quran is a slogan that doesn't translate into actual laws and added to the law of saying you are just a bunch of sloganeering people who don't have a hikma you're causing fitna and facade slogan sounds good doesn't mean anything. Anyway, that's a separate tangent here. point is that when we say what does the Quran say? What does Islam say? It's a bit of a trick question. And unless the Quran

is explicit, yes, Allah created us, okay, we can say the Quran says no problem. Now you're asking me about global warming? What does the Quran say about this? or What does Islam say? We have to be very careful about this. Rather, the way the question should be phrased is, is there anything in the Quran and Sunnah that modern scholars can use to discuss this topic that changes the whole paradigm, now you're bringing it to the heart of human beings. You know, this goes back to a Hadith of the process of that he saw told to ideal the loved one when he was going on war and expedition, he said, when you go to this enemy tribe, and they say, they want you to judge them, by the judgment of a

law, do not agree to that because you do not know the judgment of a law. But if they say they're willing for your judgment, then give them your judgment and seek Allah's help. Notice the difference between this Okay, no human being other than the process of speaks on behalf of

Allah subhana wa, tada, not even the Sahaba. That's why the Hadith is clear. The process of is saying to this companion, that if you go to this tribe, and they agree to reconciliation, and they say we want a loss verdict, don't say you will give them a loss verdict, how do you know Allah has verdict? Rather, say no, I will try my best to be fair, and just and then ask a lot for help is there in Billa? So similarly, when somebody has a modern question about this issue, you know, what does Islam say about, you know, carrying weapons? What does Islam say about this? And that, then it's a bit of a broad question, you have to rephrase it. Is there anything in our Koran and Sunnah?

Is there anything or classical Roma have said about this issue? And so that needs to be phrased also, by the way, another point and again, the reason I chose this question, frankly, was not to get to the answer. But to answer the question, firstly, because we need to get over this simplistic mindset. Why am I concerned about this? Because once again, I want to teach ourselves tolerance. What happens is sometimes an item will give you an opinion, and it's a good opinion, but it's the opinion of an atom. It's not the Quran, it is not Allah subhana wa Taala. And we take that opinion, and we consider anybody who dares disagree to be upon misguidance evil even worse, all you need to

do is look at sectarianism across the globe. Once we understand that, yes, there are some things sometimes the Quran and Sunnah is explicit, no problem. Most of the time, in the intra legal disputes, sometimes even in advanced theological issues. It's not clear cut. And that's why there's a difference of opinion. It's not clear cut. And I've given examples about this. So another point, you are asking me, and my training is in Islamic sciences, about an issue that deals with modern sciences, global warming is not a subject that is taught in any madrasa across the globe. So this also explains another issue we need to think about, as our Profit System said, Give everyone their

due, right. Do not ask a chef or an alum, a speciality beyond Islamic sciences, or else you will get into a problem. And usually the chef or Adam might not even know he'll give you the response, and he will also fall into a problem. And I've given many examples about this. And when there is an area of expertise, go to the expert, don't ask me about investment advice. Don't ask me about modern theories of science. Even though I have me personally, I actually have a degree in engineering. I have a minor in Chemistry. I am Alhamdulillah trained in sciences still, it's not my area that I'm reading on. I'm not a professor

Science. I'm a professor of Islamic Studies, so also give everybody their due and learn from the mistakes of what happened in the Western world when their preachers and theologians became their scientists. Let's not in our oma Alhamdulillah. We never had what happened in medieval Europe. Why? Because our Roman knew their place and our imminent Hey, thumbs and roses knew their place as well. The scientists knew their place, they didn't get filled, and it was an hour for Kahan, Rama did not tell us what to believe of a biology and medicine. We never had the inquisitions of medieval Europe, we never had, you know, the pope tell Galileo, the sun is stationary and the earth goes around.

Sorry, the, the sun is stationary, sorry, the Earth is stationary and the sun goes around the Earth. That's what the Pope said to Galileo. The Christian clerics said to Galileo, the Galileo was saying the opposite. Right. Galileo was saying the earth goes around the sun. And the Christian churches say no, we believe theologically, that the earth is stationary. And if you say otherwise, we're gonna burn you at the stake. And they literally had a stake and they were going to burn him over there. And so Galileo, obviously, we don't want to do that, do we? So don't go to Misha and Rama and ask them questions. We just gave a lecture a few months ago about what the process Some said until I

demo, the ohmori dounia come he said this, you know, your dunya better than I do. And this is about what happened in his time. Now, what if there is a clash? In this case, hula of the Sharia, and modern scientists need to come together and discuss amongst themselves. And the biggest example is a theory of evolution, which maybe one day I'll discuss. But if you listen to my talks online, you know, it's it is something that needs to be discussed. It is a clash. You know what some Muslims believe and what some scientists believe there seems to be a clash. There's no real clash. By the way, there's no real clash. The Clash is in our understanding, there cannot be an actual

contradiction between what is provable by science and what the Quran explicitly says we firmly believe this, but there might be a clash because we haven't either understood science or understood the Quran. So in this case, we need to get the experts in the in, in evolutionary biology, we need to get the experts who understand what the Quran and Sunnah might imply with this wordings, and then come together, which believe it or not, still hasn't happened, you would think it would have happened by now, it still hasn't happened, you know. So, each side needs to discuss with each other so that they can formulate what can and cannot be said. Now, when it comes to this issue. Now, after

all of these disclaimers, which was more important than the actual response, actually, that's why I chose this question. Now, we say, in my humble opinion, we can find some generic verses and a hadith that can be applied for topics in this regard. This is my opinion and the video some of the rhythm of our times, and as an educated person in this world as well. Me personally, I'm not speaking as a person of knowledge. Speaking as a person who studied science. I think it is quite convincing that global warming is something that is proven by modern science, it's something that is pretty much the standard understanding of what is going on. And then I don't find anything in the Quran and Sunnah

that would be problematic for that. There's nothing in the Quran and Sunnah that problematizes the perception or the theory or even the fact that what we are doing is causing an ecological disaster of the highest magnitude. And that having been said, it is very easy to make a case don't say the Quran says, say it is possible for our modern earlimart to say, which is what I'm doing okay, it's possible for modern olema to make a claim to be ecologically conscious to tell Muslims that a part of their worship of Allah is to take care of the environment. This is something that we can make a case for from the Quran and the Sunnah, why and how the Quran ascribes a general role of stewardship

of taking care of other creatures and species to mankind. And this is explicit in the Quran. Allah subhanho wa Taala mentioned in the Quran was Sahaja Lacan Mufasa miroir to a lot of the Jamia a min Allah has put you in charge Allah has given you authority over that which is in the heavens and earth whatever you have power over to do. Allah subhana wa Taala has put you in charge of it. And Allah mentions in the Quran that we are Mustafa love and will start love one of the primary meanings of mystic love, you are the Guardian, and you will be asked about what you're in charge of, and the term halifa in nature and overall the halifa there are two main interpretations of this term. The

one of the one that we will mention now there's another one that maybe one day we'll mention, the one that we will mention it is it is found in early Islamic tafsir halifa means Allah has put us in charge, just like the term halifa to rasulillah that he has been put in charge. So we will be asked about our

environment and this is something that is very explicit that taking care of the environment taking care of the plants and animals around us. This is something that is an act of worship. Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned that whoever plants a tree, this idea is in Bahati, whoever plants a tree, and the tree then grows up any human or creature or animal that eats of that tree, it will be an act of sadhaka for this person. So this hadith clearly shows us that being green or taking care of the environment, as well, the famous Hadith of the man or some versions, the lady and evil lady who lived a lifetime of sin, and she saw a dog that was thirsty and she went down, she

gave the water dog and the problem said, she entered agenda. The Sahaba said, O Messenger of Allah, Allah will reward us for taking care of an animal. This is a hadith and Bahati. Allah will reward us for taking care of an animal and our Prophet sallallahu Sallam said, in every living creature, there is reward in every living creature, whether it's bird whether it's animal, whether it's human being, taking care of any living creature, there is a reward this hadith in Bukhari and famous Hadith and Muslim Imam Muhammad that our Prophet says, I sent him said, if one of you has a sapling, a small little plant, you know what you buy in Home Depot and what the saplings there when you put it in

your backyard, that's called a sapling. If any of you had a sapling, and the trumpet is blown, if you're able to plant the sapling, before the trumpet reaches you go ahead and do that meaning, think of the future try even though there is no future after judgment day but the concept here, think of the future. Make sure you are doing you no good in this earth. And Allah criticizes, destroying nature. This is explicit in the Quran. Allah criticizes, for example, when a doctor will fill out the elusive saffron or the leaf see the fee How will you Holika and how to sell when Nestle will lower your herbal facade, when he turns away from the Quran. He then his main effort is to cause

facade in the cultivation and the animals he wants to destroy. Nature, we will call it right a lot is calling an evil person as if he's destroying nature. And Allah subhanho wa Taala mentions in the Koran law to see do feel oddly bad is law here do not cause facade in the earth after everything is in good order. Now, of course, the primary meaning of facade is to you know, harm people kill people. But destroying nature is a type of facade. It's very explicit in the Quran harming nature is a type of facade. Also, we have in the theater of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the famous incident of the Battle of her name, when our Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasallam had had

surrounded the people of thought if, and they were being stubborn, and the people of thought have lived in a walled fortress, and their cultivation was outside the fortress, all of the crops was outside the fortress, the date palms was outside the fortress, one of the Muslims got the idea. Let's burn their crops, which is outside the fortress. And so one tree was burned, or maybe more than one was burnt. But when you burn a tree, will it only affect the people inside? Who else will that affect?

animals? Who else will that affect?

nature, who else?

Think about it when you destroy the whole plantation

environment, but also future generations, other people that are eating from the tree, destroying nature is very different. And it's the beauty here, somehow Allah Anyway, let me finish the nourish. And then we come back to this beautiful point here. When the people have thought if we saw that some Muslims are destroying the trees, they began begging, that don't destroy the trees. I mean, we're having war, we're killing one another, don't destroy the trees, we beg you for our blood and kinship for our common cause. We are all human beings here. We beg you Don't destroy the trees. And our Profit System gave a commandment to not destroy the trees. Interestingly enough, in this case,

nature was more important than human life. Because destroying the trees would have meant for two generations, they don't have food. It's not just this group that's trapped there. When you're going to burn the trees down, you're going to it takes 40 years for the tree to grow. For that whole crop that you're going to ruin the ground you're going to have we see what's happening in Australia, which is these people cannot plant now for another 11 knows how long that forest tree is gone, that that soil is gone. So it's not just harming the living people. You're going to harm other people. You're going to harm innocence. You're going to harm future generations. When the people have

thought if begged our process them had mercy and he forbade the Muslims don't burn the trees. And you know what? They weren't successful back then.

They left the people that went back to Medina. They didn't harm the trees. Think about that. So we can extrapolate from the Quran and Sunnah that we are told to take care of nature, and think about our ecology and whatnot. And so for those who are interested in this field, it is definitely something that we can say, can be an action of worship, that we take care of the environment, we are environmentally conscious, we quote unquote, go green, we advocate causes that will diminish global warming. If we do this with the proper intention in sha Allah to Allah, there is no problem in saying the general text of the Quran and Sunnah would facilitate this before I finish this question,

a very important disclaimer, we have to avoid the two extremes. What are the two extremes? The first extreme, which is common in one segment, is to take these modern politically correct causes, and to make them the end all and be all of the religion of Islam

to make these causes, the most important, because you see, first thing we got to do is check. Does the politician have forbid this or neutral or encouraging, in my humble opinion, I give you we can find encouragement, right? Once we find encouragement, the next thing we got to do, okay, encouraged, but where is it on the list? Is it on the most important list? Is it on? Very important? Is it on? So where is it on the list? And what we see is that some people prioritize these issues to the point of it eclipses a man in Allah subhanho wa Taala it eclipses everybody that it becomes more important than Oran and Vicar. And that's a mistake. That is a big mistake. Because you will not

enter agenda simply by being ecologically ecologically conscious, and you don't do your rope with Allah subhanho wa Taala. That is more important. I'm not saying it's either or, but I'm simply saying, the one who wants to get involved here should prioritize it. The way that Allah has prioritized make sure they themselves are praying, make sure they themselves have the connection with Allah. And yes, now that they have enough energy, they can go and do something else. No problem. This is one extreme. And by the way, we see this I think most obviously in the the issue of meat. You know, I still haven't answered the meat question. I've gotten like 15 questions, I'm

delaying the juicy meat to the even longer Okay, still is a bonanza I still haven't answered academically one day I'll do that, inshallah. But we see this in the meat issue where segments of Muslims are more concerned about how the animal was treated than how the animal was slaughtered.

And halal and haram goes over how the farmer used to treat the animal more So then, the procedure for the slaughtering of the animal and how the farmer treated the animal is important, but much more important to pronounce the verdict is what is how the animal was slaughtered. So you see what happens when you don't prioritize properly. So you have this movement that says, if the animal was treated unethically, it is held on regardless of how it was slaughtered, and at the end of the day, slaughtered properly. But it was in a cage, the chicken was in a cage, we will pronounce the verdict of how Tom regardless of how the animal was slaughtered, so thick for them changes because of

political correctness. And that's not right. We don't have to have either or we can encourage Ethical Treatment of Animals, which we should do. And I've done this multiple times. And we can say, but it is obligatory to slaughter the animal properly, right? You have a whole package deal here. But when you don't have your priorities straight, then something which is not the most important, it's important, nobody's denying, it's not important, but it's not the most important the most important is slaughtering and feeding the animal should be pure. That is more important. If the farmer mysteries the animal that's wrong, it's a sin, the animal will be able to complain on

Judgement Day, believe it or not, the farmer might be punished for what he has done. But the meat is still highlighted for us. Now you don't want to buy it. That's fine, but don't say it's wrong. But we'll get to that issue. Now. That's one extreme. What is the opposite extreme? When it comes to these issues? Who can tell me?

No, no.

Exactly.

Our brother's well aware of these debates, because he's intrinsically involved online.

Sometimes on both sides I wonder that's why anyway, that's He's my T's to go person you should all know this.

Our brother correctly points out the other extreme, which is typically from undereducated overzealous fundamentalist types of gum tree, I'm sorry to be so stereotypical, but this is what it really it is. It boils down to people who think they're defending the tradition.

And so any time anybody comes and says, you know, okay, you can be green in Islam.

Stanford Law imama No, we didn't say anything like this. It'd been a god talk like this. Remember what hanifa did you mentioned about shutting the light off when you leave the room? This is all you liberal because people, all of you sold sell yourselves to the progressive modernists, okay? And these people, they want to defend the traditional, they've never studied it critically.

They they just are so sensitive. And we understand so many changes have gone. Anytime somebody comes in wants to push the boundary a little bit. They just knee jerk reaction, that Oh, that's it. What's next? Now everything is headed. Okay, you're going to say LGBT, whether we're talking about being green, next step is automatically LGBT headed. Like, that's the way their minds worked. Any change is like, going to change everything. And so if you dare come and say, You know what, it's not an Islamic to be green On the contrary, if you do it properly, inshallah you will be rewarded. I mean, I quoted you 10 evidences from the Quran and Sunnah. Just because there was no global warming at the

time of him on no way and he didn't talk about it, does it make it wrong to advocate being ecologically conscious? Well, according to this group, it is because again, they're so they're so cautious about any change, that they are not willing to have any type of different discourse and we see them all the time. You know, just as you know, they're they're very well common and whatnot. And this is another problem point is we're omoton was certain. So to conclude, and inshallah we'll finish with one question today because it was a long question, to conclude. The Quran and Sunnah

does not have something explicit about global warming, but we can make an argument from the Quran and Sunnah, that Allah subhana wa tada will reward us for being conscious of every living being around us, that includes animals, and that includes plants. We can also make an argument from the Quran and Sunnah, that it is nice to be ecologically conscious that we should think about the plants just like our profitsystem did that he praised people who planting plants we praise people, he himself took care of the plants outside of her name, even in case of war. It is a very easy argument to make. And given the fact that science is now pretty much definitive that we have caused damage to

the environment, then we can say and I'll conclude with when this verse sort of rumors 41 voted for southern

border facade with barrier Buhari Bill McKibben at NASA, the vehicle homebuyer ability and we do it is not implausible to derive that mankind can cause disasters in nature from a verse in the Quran. Has anybody in the past done it? Not necessarily, but the wording allows for it? What is the wording translate us? facade has spread facade means any type of chaos, any type of harm, and global warming is a type of facade, volatile facade filled very well by our facade has spread in the heavens and in the earth. Why, how be Marcus sabot aiding us because of the results of what men have done. We have caused the facade we have harmed Now obviously, the primary meaning is civil war is because men are

stupid to fighting one another. The primary meaning is you're killing one another because of what you are doing this. But Quranic wording allows that you can say that one type of facade is ruining nature. This is a type it's literally in the Quran, right way that are less accurately you see the fee How will you helical health or wellness and this is explicit facade is destroying the crops. So one type of facade is global warming, and Allah is saying facade is the result of what you yourselves have done.

And this is something that we can apply to what we see around us May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us wisdom grantees have lost ground to suffer a loss rather than to make us stewards of this earth that will be able to answer to Allah subhana wa tada for the responsibilities is given us.

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