How does Islam treat life and the environment?

Even the area of environment, which the West tends to be very concerned about today (protecting the environment etc), Islam had established those principles 1400 years ago in its final message. The world that Allah has created is a world for us to benefit from without destroying it. Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) forbade us from taking birds as our targets; to kill animals in sport and fun. This is about conservation and protection of the environment. We do not have the right to destroy, in sport, what Allah has created. So, we have set moral principles though in Muslim countries today, perhaps we might hear about the most destructive thing to the environment. But the point of the matter is that this is ultimately a part of the fundamental package of Islam – that package of morality which deals with all aspects of life.

Even in sport, for example, a lot of people think that Islam has not really laid some principles. In that, a sport like bungee jumping (where you jump off a bridge or a cliff and a rubber band is tied to the foot), carnivals, amusement parks etc is haraam for a Muslim. This is immoral as you are putting yourself in a situation where you could die. Though you may be having fun and thrill from these, this is not from Islam. Allah told us very clearly in the Qur’an,

“…Do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction…”[1]

Every year, bungee cords break and people hit the ground and kill themselves. Every year, mountain climbers fall off and kill themselves. Every year, roller coasters get off the track and people die. What will you say to Allah if you were among those people? As a Muslim, what could you possibly say? I was only having fun when I killed myself?! This is suicide. We are not allowed to do this.

The Islamic point, in terms of how it looks at life, is something Allah has given us and we have the duty to utilize it in the best way possible. This is the moral approach – to utilize our life, our time, our youth, our knowledge, our energy in the best way possible and not to be focused only on the pleasures of life. So, in the West, for example, you will hear people saying that if life is not fun, it is not worth living. A person gets a kind of illness and he is suffering from it, he says he should have the right to take his life and you have people supporting it and legislation trying to make it permissible and struggles because if life is not pleasant anymore, it is pain. It is a life of pain and it is not worth living. This is a distorted view about life. A person who suffers in pain while trying to treat his/her illness, the suffering that he/she goes through, believing in Allah, purifies them of sins. Prophet (ﷺ) had said that even if a believer steps on a thorn and he is patient with it, it purifies him of sin.[2]

Islam provides moral guidance in all aspects of life so that we can truly appreciate life for what it is.

References:

[1] [Qur’an 2:195]

[2] [Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5641]