Are British Muslims 'Green'? An Overview of Environmental Activism among Muslims in Britain

Abstract

An eight-month research project conducted between 2009 and 2010 examined whether and how the building of gardens reflecting Islamic traditions could promote environmental awareness and the appreciation of Islamic gardening heritage among both Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain. The study found that British Muslims are engaged in a range of projects involving the promotion of environmental conservation and sustainable horticulture. By documenting the formation and activities of Islamic environmental action groups in Britain, as well as a range of irutiatives centred on mosques and community centres, it is possible to demonstrate some of the ways in which British Muslims have been engaged in grassroots pro-environmental activity. Such efforts are indicative of an important new sense of agency, belonging, and ownership of local spaces among Muslims in Britain, and they provide a marker for evaluating the growing institudonalisation of Islam in Britain.

Muslims and climate change: How Islam, Muslim organizations, and religious leaders influence climate change perceptions and mitigation activities

“…This context has facilitated the evolution of environmental initiatives within existing Muslim organizations, as well as the emergence of Muslim organizations focusing on environmental protection (e.g., Bahu Trust, Midlands Islamic Network for the Environment, Reading Islamic Trustees for the Environment, Sheffield Islamic Network for the Environment). While some of the Muslim environmental organizations have experienced organizational decay after some time (Gilliat‐Ray & Bryant, 2011; Hancock, 2018), two organizations became reference points of Muslim environmentalism in the United Kingdom: IFEES and Wisdom in Nature (WiN, formerly London Islamic Network for the Environment). IFEES was founded in 1996 by Fazlun Khalid and is currently the most renowned environmental organization in the United Kingdom.…”

“…However, the initiatives in the United Kingdom still involve only small numbers of environmentally concerned Muslims and often face difficulties in maintaining their activities (Gilliat‐Ray & Bryant, 2011, p. 299). Muslim activists sometimes face rejection and hostility within their own Muslim communities, which view their environmental engagement with skepticism and perceive it as alien to Islam (Hancock, 2018, p. 137; Nita, 2014, pp.…”

Muslim NGOs and the Quest for Environmental Sustainability in the Context of the Sustainable Development Goals

“…Finally, the broader impact of these initiatives remains unclear: it is uncertain whether the targeted Muslim communities are becoming "greener" over time (Mangunjaya and McKay 2012). Moreover, the studies indicate that only a minority of Muslims actively engage in these efforts of "greening" Islam and Muslim communities (Amri 2014;Gilliat-Ray and Bryant 2011).…”

“…As such, Muslim RNGOs seem to place a less prominent focus on environmental topics than religious NGOs from other faith backgrounds. Also scholars that underpin the strong environmental basis of Islam often acknowledge a relatively low environmental concern among broader Muslim populations (Amri 2014;DeHanas 2009;Gilliat-Ray and Bryant 2011;Saniotis 2012). Saniotis (2012) argues that the this discrepancy is related to the social history of Muslim majority countries.…”

Religion and ecology

“…By contrast, other faith traditions and regions have received less academic attention. Still, the few existing studies on Islam indicate similar problems in expanding the greening: though Muslim umbrella organizations pursue environmental activities, local congregations and adherents engage to a much lower extent (Gilliat-Ray and Bryant 2011;Koehrsen 2021;Skirbekk and Pędziwiatr 2018).…”