A vital part of the well-being of any community
is the concern for the environment in which the community lives and has its
being. The main concern of environment design is to facilitate ibaadah and generate behavior that
is in accordance with the Shari’ah, People should
therefore aim at creating an environment that is clean, beautiful and peaceful;
clean because the Qur’an says that, ‘God loves those
who keep themselves pure and clean’ and the noble said that, ‘Purity is half of
the faith’, beautiful according to the saying of the Prophet, ‘God is beautiful
and loves beauty’, and peaceful because Islam itself aims at total peace.
Accordingly, a high standard of cleanliness need
to be maintained by all individuals, and in homes, street, parks, shops,
markets, and other public places in neighborhoods and communities. This is the
responsibility to begin with of everyone who lives in a locality. Concern for
the environment begins with the individual. If an individual does not maintain
clean personal habits, there is no way he would be concerned with proper
garbage disposal, clean streets and beautiful surroundings. Local government
authorities have their jobs to do in this regard but they cannot do an
effective job unless individuals desire and work for
clean homes and neighborhoods.
An environment based on Islamic principles would
be one in which public health and hygiene is stressed, where measures are taken
to ensure, for example, that water is not polluted and that there are adequate
facilities for waste disposal.
An Islamic environment will also be clean so far
as its morals and its economic dealings are concerned. Its economic sector will
know no liquor shops, drinking houses or pubs and will be a totally ‘dry’ area.
No use or trafficking in drugs will be allowed, it will have no gambling houses
or ‘twilight’ zones where forms of ‘entertainment’ and other practices contrary
to the Shari’ah are conducted. It is
thus an environment in which public morality and decency is observed. ‘A
community in the midst of which sins are committed and which could be but are
not corrected by the community is most likely to be encompassed in its entirety
by the punishment of God’, said the noble Prophet. This is a prescription for
initiatives like ‘Neighborhood Watch’ schemes to monitor, control and eliminate
crime and socially harmful trends and practices.
On the positive side, an Islamic environment is
one that is filled with the greeting of peace, ‘A rider should greet a
pedestrian, a pedestrian to whom is sitting, a small group to the larger; and a
younger to the older one…’ said the Prophet. If this simple advice is followed
in letter and in spirit, it would serve to eliminate or at least reduce all
sorts of loutish behavior, muggings, ‘agro’ and other forms of tension in
contemporary society.
One of the principles of the Shari’ah,
based on a saying of the Prophet, that is applicable
to the environment is laa darar wa
laa diraar – there shall be no
injury nor perpetuation or reciprocation of injury. This applied to land and
water use, the construction of building and walls, rubbish disposal and so on.
You are not allowed for example to construct a wall so high that your neighbor
will be deprived of sunlight and air. You are not allowed to leave a house
empty knowing that there are homeless people in the neighborhood. You are not
allowed to leave cultivable land uncultivated of there are unemployed people in
the community willing to cultivate the land on the basis of sharecropping. You
are not allowed to divert or pollute pure water to deprive or harm human beings
or animals. You are encouraged to plant trees and fruit trees in particular and
this would undoubtedly help to create a greener and more beautiful environment.
(top)
The Built
Environment
So far as the built environment is concerned, the
Islamic environment will have planning standards and architecture:
·
that are in harmony with the surrounding;
·
that make for beauty yet discourages waste and conspicuous
consumption;
·
that make for privacy of the home and family and
the protection of modesty;
·
that facilitate worship (ibadah) and will not detract from the remembrance of God.
Geometrical designs,
arches, arabesque decorations may be considered Islamic in that they are
beautiful and do not contravene the Shari’ah. However,
in themselves they do not make Islamic architecture. A house with beautiful geometrical
designs and arches but which is firmly sealed so that it can be cooled by noisy
air-condition units does not serve the function of an Islamic dwelling. It is
difficult in such a dwelling to hear the adhaan or the call to Prayer. Such dwelling
often contribute to the slow social and spiritual death of neighborhood
communities. On the other hand, a traditional mashrabiyyah or lattice-work window is not only
beautiful but serves to let in light and the sound of the adhaan.
Moreover, it keeps out the prying gaze and thus helps to maintain privacy. Such
features of a building help to serve the function of Islamic architecture.
Buildings which serve no Islamic purpose like mausoleums and statues, no matter
how beautifully they may be constructed or decorated cannot be called Islamic.
Islamic architecture is determined primarily by function or use and not by
form. The form of a building must serve and enhance its function.
An Islamic neighborhood
will have adequate facilities for healthy recreation. (top)