With the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
“And it is He (God) who has made you successors (khala’ifa) upon the earth and has raised some of you above others in degrees [of rank] that He may try you through what He has given you. Indeed, your Lord is swift in penalty; but indeed, He is Forgiving and Merciful.” (Qur’an 6:165).
Dear Sisters and Brother in Islam,
As salaamoalikum wa rahmatAllah. Please take a minute to read this appeal, especially with the blessed month of Ramadhan approaching soon. May Allah (swt) accept your ibadaat during this month and make us stronger in our eiman and taqwa.
As you begin to plan your generous iftars please take a minute to become aware of the damage we could be causing to the health of your fellow momineen and to our delicate environment, both of which are trusts form Allah (swt) to us.
While we enter Ramadhan to gain Allah(swt)’s blessings we don’t want to cancel those blessing with irresponsible wasting for food and resources. The use of disposables, especially plastics has and continues to be a major tragedy in our communities. Harming our environment and our health.
Alhamdolillah, the good news is that we are highly intelligent, reasonable, creative and financially well and thus have the power and ability to bring goodness and positive change to this problem in the blessed month of Ramadhan, as we are striving to purify and better ourselves in all aspects of our lives.
InshaAllah, once we realize our responsibility and obligation as Muslims, that we have to do something about this problem we can begin by educating ourselves, our families, and communities. Awareness is the key to success whether it be about ourselves, our society, politics, or our environment. All of these impact us in many ways and can be crucial to our wellbeing and survival.
My focus today is to provide our communities with solutions to how we can make a positive difference in our Ramadhan practices this year among other things. Let’s begin with educating ourselves. inshaAllah.
Following are some most recent but brief articles on the harms of plastics. However, there is a lot more information available on the web.
The Big Problem with Plastics
https://www.consumerreports.org/environment-sustainability/the-big-problem-with-plastic
Toxic Chemicals in Plastics
https://www.consumerreports.org/toxic-chemicals-substances/most-plastic-products-contain-potentially-toxic-chemicals/
https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/how-to-reduce-exposure-to-plastic-in-food-everywhere-else-a9640874767/
As you will read in these and many many more research studies that Plastics and Styrofoam are silently and unnoticeably causing havoc to our health and our environment. As Muslims and Khalifas of Allah (swt) on earth let us be leaders in stopping this destruction and disaster.
Thank you and may Allah (swt) bless you and your families.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or if you need help with planning a Green Ramadhan.
Fizza Razvi
fizza@chicagomuslimsgreenteam.org