God has appointed humanity as trustees of Earth. Unfortunately, humanity’s increasing footprint is causing unprecedented resource depletion and environmental degradation. Our fossil fuel consumption is rising, while the planet’s forests, pastures, farmland, fisheries and water systems are dwindling. Sea levels and global temperatures are also rising, and climate change has become one of the largest threats to our existence.
Our goal is to convince mosques and Islamic centers to play a crucial part in explaining to our community about our impact and responsibility so that it might become eco-friendly, an oasis of sustainability safeguarding the natural balance.
This year, seven mosques/Islamic centers submitted their nominations for the ISNA 2024 Green Masjid Award. Each of them has a Green Committee, delivers khutbas on environmental issues and has initiated similar measures over the years.
Masjid At-Thohir (Los Angeles)
Located in Los Angeles, this mosque uses energy-efficient light fixtures, sensors and smart thermostats. Water sensors adorn its faucets and ablution fixtures, and low-flow water fixtures retrofitted with 0.5 GPM aerators minimize water consumption. In addition to its recycling and waste management and materials programs, some members collect cans and California Redemption Value items for recycling. The use of plastic and Styrofoam plates and cups at events has been reduced. During Ramadan, reusable plates cut waste in half.
The Milwaukee Islamic Dawah Center
This center encourages the community to become more eco-friendly by having the youth cultivate its community garden every summer. Along with lowering the amount of food wasted, limiting the use of Styrofoam products and urging the use of paper products for events, they also recycle paper products from their daily food pantry and try to lower food waste. Their pantry distributes 1 million pounds of food and resources to the needy.
Masjid Al-Qur’an (Milwaukee)
This Milwaukee-based masjid’s Green Committee facilitates the upgrades, development and implementation of environmental stewardship to the mosque’s infrastructure and its increased biodiversity and eco-health. Existing educational programs and activities focus on the environment. Through their recycling and waste management programs, team members seek to minimize the use of non-recyclable materials, collect water waste from used bottles for indoor/outdoor plants and reduce the use of plastics and Styrofoam.
Six beehives have been employed to inform the community, via lectures and harvesting events, about the bees’ critical role in the environment. Members plant fruit trees and harvest the produce yearly. Their organic vegetable garden uses no environmentally harmful products. The team encourages the use of reusable water bottles by installing water-refilling stations and of using energy saving light fixtures, smart thermostats and low-flow water fixtures.
The Islamic Community Center of Potomac (Md.)
This community center is characterized by solar panels, energy-efficient light fixtures, smart thermostats and low-flow water saving fixtures. No plastic bottled water is in sight, and eco-friendly paper plates are becoming the norm. Its educational program and community activities are focused on reducing the center’s carbon footprint. Other features are a tree planting program, a vegetable garden, and explanations of how to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost during Ramadan. All Styrofoam products are forbidden.
The Roswell Community Masjid (Georgia)
This masjid uses energy-efficient lights, thermostats, low-flow water fixtures and paper products. It has rejected bottled water and Styrofoam products; and features a community garden and waste management program. Its Green Team discusses humanity’s religious and moral obligation to environmental stewardship and how to incorporate it into daily life.
In addition to river cleanups, tree plantings, an onsite compost and other related efforts, members use compostable food service materials and work with local environmental groups. Single-use plastics and disposable water bottles have been replaced by water-filling stations or water brought from home. Compost containers have been inside the facility so food scraps can be composted at the masjid’s community garden.
The Green Team is helping design a new facility as a regenerative house of worship, as well as a certified “living building,” in which environmental stewardship of the mosque is reflected as an integral part of Islam.
The Islamic Center of Evansville (Indiana)
The Green Committee’s focus at this center is to reduce food waste and recycle and minimize the use of plastic materials at all community events. The Landscape Committee plants trees, shrubs and flowers. They also have khutbas about the environment. Three hundred electric light bulbs have been replaced with energy-efficient LED bulbs. Programmable digital thermostats also help save energy. 44 solar panels were installed during 2021 and 47 more were added for the new activity center. Biodegradable paper products are used for all social events, and bottled water is forbidden.
Forty-four trees have been planted to sustain a green landscape. An active recycling and waste management program has been set up with separate bins. The team hosts educational lectures on the principles of Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, and Rethink.
The center received the Interfaith Power and Light’s “Cool Congregation” runner up award of $500. In 2022 it received the EPA’s “Energy Star” certification. Today, it is still the only mosque in this country to receive this designation out of 39,000+ houses of worship.
The Muslim Community Center of Chicago
In addition to having an educational program on environmental stewardship as part of Islam, this center has developed recycling, reuse and waste management programs; published articles about the environment and the Prophet’s sunnah in a mosque newsletter; and created a vegetable garden and raised monarch butterflies.
During Ramadan, they replaced water bottles with eco-friendly cups, water tanks and hand pumps. They have installed bottle-filling water fountains, sold reusable water bottles, turn off lights when not in use, advocate purchasing reusable décor, recommend reusing clothing and encourage guests to bring their own cups, mugs and utensils.
Their current goal is to acquire a commercial dishwasher to reduce the need for disposable plates. The team and others participate in green activism with many local organizations and conduct an energy and water use audit. MCC also won the Greener Morton Grove Award for excellence in our awareness efforts.
These seven congregations are role models of committed and concerned individuals working hard to reduce their respective carbon and ecological footprints via upholding the trust given to humanity by God. The ISNA Green Initiative Team thanks all of them for participating and hopes they can strengthen their efforts in this regard. We encourage all others to follow suit by accessing isna.net/isna-green-initiative and getting involved.
ISNA’s Green Initiative Team: Huda Alkaff, Saffet Catovic, Nana Firman, Uzma Mirza and Saiyid Masroor Shah (chair).
This piece was originally published in Islamic Horizons on their July/August 2024 Issue.