We must respect the Earth to live in harmony

Bermuda has experienced some very strange weather in these past few weeks; I think I can confidently say that most of the world has experienced the same strange tweaks of Mother Nature. 

It is very cold and windy one day and the next day it’s super, duper hot! 

Makes you wonder what is going on. Allah says the signs are there for those who reflect. 

Last weekend I visited the Greenrock Earth Hour festival held on the premises of City Hall.

I was very pleased with the efforts being made to make people aware of their part in ensuring the Earth is sustained and thereby changing their mindset that we must respect the Earth, if we are to survive in harmony with it. 

Backfire

We have so far been careless of our actions towards the Earth and thus it will and has begun to backfire on us. Allah says in His Noble Qur’an, “Mischief has appeared on land and sea because of (the meed) that the hands of men have earned, that (Allah) may give them a taste of some of their deeds: in order that they may turn back (from Evil).” 41:30.

Allah created nature in perfect balance, as we can see by the rising and setting of the sun every day in perfect harmony with the appearance of the moon. 

The Qur’an says it beautifully in 15:19: “And the Earth We have spread out (like a carpet); set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance.” 

We human beings have been placed as custodians of the Earth and hence must keep that balance if we are to maintain harmony and sustain our own lives and future generations. We should pay great attention to and give proper care to nature; ever mindful not to waste or destroy. 

Allah says in Surah 6:141: “It is He Who produceth gardens, with trellises and without, and dates and tilth with produce of all kinds and olives and pomegranates, similar (in kind) and different (in variety): eat of their fruit in their season but render the dues that are proper on the day that the harvest is gathered. But waste not by excess: for Allah loveth not the wasters.”  

Allah is saying that He provides from the Earth for us but we must not be greedy, wasteful or ungrateful.

Tamper

We all know that there are those who tamper with the Earth and its cycles in the hopes of creating what they consider “perfect climates”. But there is some controversy surrounding the tampering by men of what has been put in order by the Creator. 

Allah warns against this: “Your Guardian-Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the Earth in six days, and is firmly established on the throne (of authority): He draweth the night as a veil o’er the day, each seeking the other in rapid succession: He created the sun, the moon and the stars, (all) governed by laws under His command. Is it not His to create and to govern? Blessed be Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds.”

So true is this Native American Proverb: “Treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your parents; it was loaned to you by your children.”  

So we have no right to disrespect and destroy it!

Surely if world governments followed Allah’s instructions on how we should respect the Earth, the world would be a better and safer place. Bermuda –– let’s be that model for the world to follow and remember the words of Allah, the God of the Universe: “It is Allah who made for you the Earth, a place of settlement and the sky a ceiling and formed you and perfected your forms and provided you with good things. That is Allah, your Lord; then blessed is Allah, Lord of the worlds.”40:64.