Permaculture & Islam

From EcoMuslim's article, Haqiqh, The Big Jihad: Restoring Permaculture Stewardship in Islam (2013). Learn more about: The Big Jihad, Islam & Permaculture, the Arabic Roots of Haqiqah, and author Abdurrahman McCausland via the article above. Selected text: 

The obligation of stewardship of this creation lies upon us all as Muslims and human beings. 

We live in an age when the Dunya (this world) is unraveling fast. As Muslims we know for sure this will happen. But that does not mean we should sit idly by and ignore what is happening. We believe Allah made us the Khalifah, steward (plural: Khala'if) of the creation. Thus we have a responsibility and duty to fulfill this role to the best of our abilities.

Living in the modern world we are trapped in a system which relies on oil. The same system funds wars that conquer more oil and other resources for exploitation. The same system consumes them and turns them into junk to sell to us, which we then chuck into land-fill sites or burn to pollute the air and the ground water. But there is a way to break free. It’s called Permaculture.

Permaculture starts from Ethics. We need to deliver an ecological benefit (Earth Care), a social benefit (People Care) and an economic benefit (Return of Surplus) from our system of living. In order to manage an ecosystem effectively we have employ sub-systems and design to integrate them effectively. All wastes are used as inputs for other parts of the system. Thus materials and energy cycle within the system, just as they do in nature. We compost our rubbish or feed it to worm farms. This way we build soil.

Permaculture is a design system which utilizes onsite resources and natural inputs to create self-sustaining food production systems. Check out: Greening the Desert to see an especially impressive example.