Have you ever thought about having a world where you completely feel at peace with yourself just waking up to the sounds of birds at your back yard filled with trees and flowers. Or maybe we may partially have these around us. But do we ever have a sense of responsibility towards them. If we do , then we can then say, we are a people in awe of Allah [God] wonders and beauty, a people with a sense of compassion, a sensitivity born out of the Love for our Creator and everything He Has Created and yes so Beautifully. The way they grow and blossom are a Great evidence of a Greater Being.
Our environment makes us. It is an essential part of our existence whether we like it or not. Come to think of it. When we die, we go deep down to the earth. The same earth that produces the food and fruits we eat, and the gushing springs we drink from. Isn’t God the Greatest? We shall return to our Lord and everything on earth would soon be destroyed.
But the earth itself is a test for us. How well do we take care of what we’ve been blessed with? How well are we grateful for the gift of nature? A Great sign of a Majestic Power. What beauty can be compared to the sight of the setting sun at the calm sea at night or the blossoming sunflowers in the break of dawn? Or the distant mountains filled with lustrous green plants, the beautiful sceneries of green lands and waterfalls.
We can take this very personal and make it realistic and not just a dream of having a green world. We can get going by getting the trees planted with our own hands gradually including the young and the old, Irrespective of class or social status in a common spirit and a greater dream to be in a permanent green and beautiful land, Jannah.
It is far beyond our own satisfaction here on earth, although part of it because what we enjoy or get from nature should make us grateful to Allah. So we can say that looking out for the ecosystem is a service to God, a humble act of submission in the dependence on Him for our earthly provisions and a testimony of our faith, and a hope to be rewarded by Him, for our care for dear earth.
‘’And it is He who sends down rain from the sky, and We produce thereby the growth
Of all things. We produce from it greenery from which We produce grains arranged in
Layers. And from the palm trees of its emerging fruit are clusters hanging lows and gardens of grape vines and olives and pomegranates similar yet varied, look at [each of] its fruit when it yields and [at] its ripening. Indeed in that are signs for a people
Who believe.[ Qur’an 6.95]
In other lands, people desert their houses for fear of the heavy sand dunes from the desert. The sand dunes destroy their houses without apologies and they run away without turning back. This I think is a catastrophe that can be prevented. On his second solo trip through the Sahara desert by car, Newton Jibunoh in his book ME, MY DESERT AND I had this to say;
I was shocked to discover that some of the towns and villages where people
lived and where I had had friends had been taken over by sand dunes. People
had been displaced, relocated or even died as a result of desert encroachment.
The world had been made beautiful by God for us to dwell and give praises to HIM, the creator of the worlds but we don’t even seem to notice this cherished goodness. Distracted we are that we don’t take out time to feed our soul, to find a healing, a safe recline from the noise of our everyday lives. But we also need these noises, to face the world and try to get the best out of it but we also need to sit for some moments to think and rest, to smile and smile back to a child or to anyone who smiled at us, to be a beam of light for someone in a dark corner, When we make an effort to do these, then we’re giving ourselves a more purposeful life that would also be a calm shade for us in the life after this very place.
Take a short pause today, and reflect keenly while listening to the sounds of the innocent birds around you, water the plants and flowers slowly and try to notice the beauty they bring to the world
JUMAI JIBRIL