Muslim performing wudhu
Despite green being the colour used to represent Islam, many Muslims do not ‘Go Green’ in their daily lives, so the Youth Engineering the Future Trust aimes to change this.
Five times a day Muslims around the world wash their hands and feet with water to perform wudhu (ablution) before performing Salaah (prayers). In the process they use about 41 litres of water daily.
An innovative project by a Cape Town based youth group, the Youth Engineering the Future Trust (YEF) aspires to encourage Muslims to recycle wudhu water by using it for their gardens.
The concept, called the “Green Masjid Project”, encourages the youth to come up with fresh ideas for conservation. YEF partnered with the National Awqaf Foundation of South Africa (Awqaf SA), a charitable endowment-receiving organisation, after they endorsed their idea to recycle wudhu water.
YEF was initiated by the Islamic Media Agency and is supported by the Muslim Judicial Council. The fund aims to develop youth, particularly high school drop-outs. According to YEF project manager Sanaa Petersen, “the purpose of the organization is to make mosques an integral part of youth development and one of its major projects are the environment and water care”.
Peterson said finding a way to capture the water was the first hurdle which was solved by it being captured into a drum that has been inserted into the ground with a fully installed filtration system. Once the drum is full, it then pumps out onto a planted garden.
With the support of Awqaf SA, the enthusiastic youth found a way to capture wudhu water.
YEF hopes the project will grow and more mosques will utilise the water conservation concept. “We are at a point where in the year 2020 we will have a scarcity of water. As Muslims we should be finding ways on how to be sustainable because at the end of the day we are accountable for whatever we use,” added Petersen.
Prophet Muhammad said, “Every one of you is a guardian and is responsible for his charges. The ruler who has authority over people is a guardian and is responsible for them” (Sahih Bukhari 3.46.730)
Assistant Director of Multilateral Environmental Agreements at the Department of Enviromental Affairs, Nazeer Jamal, said: “We forget to emphasise on the real teachings of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad which is to do everything in moderation … to use the least amount of water when making wudhu, to recycle, to not waste, and to treat all our provisions as an amaanat (trust) from Allah.”
The Muslim community was invited to witness the innovation in action when the project was unveiled at Friday prayers with a talk from the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) deputy-president Sheikh Achmad Sedick and YEF chairperson Raees Ismail. Ismail explained to the congregation the process of recycling water and how it would benefit nature and the environment.
In Europe, Muslims have taken up the challenge of finding ways to boost renewable power generation. German Muslims last year planned a mosque equipped with wind turbines in its minarets that will be able to generate electricity. This is the first-ever building of this kind in the world. The mosque is planned to be built in Norderstedt, a town near Hamburg.
courtesy:
Hasina Gori / http://www.sabc.co.za/
