Eco-Islam in Africa

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Green is the color commonly associated with Islam and some scholars say the Koran also commands Muslims to be green in the modern environmental sense. In East Africa, a development project using Islamic ethics has taught locals the Koranic imperatives of conserving natural resources. Some say eco-Islam has taken root. From Pemba Island in Tanzania, Matthew Brunwasser reports. (Photo: Matthew Brunwasser) Download MP3

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MARCO WERMAN: Green is the color commonly associated with Islam. No one knows why for sure. Some scholars say the Koran commands Muslims to be “green” in the environmental sense as well. In East Africa, a development project is using Islamic ethics to protect natural resources. From Pemba Island in Tanzania, Matthew Brunwasser reports.

MATTHEW BRUNWASSER:  Every day, fisherman Kombo Hadi Dyumba sails his traditional Dhau boat from Pemba Island through the sapphire, blue waters of the Zanzibar archipelago. The trip to the spot where he set his fish traps takes about an hour, with no navigation equipment or buoys to guide him. He sets his bearings only by nearby islands. When he gets there, Dyumba throws in a hook, to retrieve his traps from the sea floor, about 20 feet down. Dyumba has been fishing here since he was a boy, but he says there’s a lot less to catch than there used to be. When he pulls out the trap, it holds only about 10 small fish. Dyumba keeps about 5 of them, and pokes the smaller ones out through holes in his trap back into the sea. The trap is made of chicken wire, but is otherwise little different from the ones his ancestors made with reeds.

SWAHILI SPEAKING

BRUNWASSER: “The methods our ancestors used did not damage the ocean,” he says. “These days, though, many other local fishermen have adopted destructive modern practices that increase their catch.”

SWAHILI SPEAKING

BRUNWASSER: “They use things that I don’t understand that really damage the ocean,” Dyumba says. “Sometimes they use spears to destroy the coral reef where the octopus hides, others use trawling nets to catch everything in the water. Other practices are even worse, including dynamite in coral reefs, and powdered tranquilizers which knock out all the fish in the water.” But Dyumba has stuck with the old ways.

SWAHILI SPEAKING

BRUNWASSER: “I’ve learned that using spears is illegal,” he says. “I’ve learned that using trawling nets is illegal. I use a net with big holes because it doesn’t damage the ocean.” Dyumba learned this back on shore through a group called MICA, the Misali Island Conservation Association, named for a tiny island off of Pemba, part of the Zanzibar archipelago. People on Pemba are Muslims and very religious. Most local men attend mosque five times a day. Imam Mohammad Suleyman Tiwani leads a local mosque. He works on development projects using the Koran to encourage positive social behavior. And he might be one of East Africa’s only green imams.

MOHAMMAD SULEYMAN TIWANI: I have found many verses that require Muslim to be green, to understand that resources exist in this world, not just as a free gift to ponder or to damage them. Every Muslim should respect the nature and should take role to preserve this nature as a part of religion.

BRUNWASSER:  Tiwani says there are many values in the Koran that fishermen, in particular, should apply in their interactions with nature. Among them peace, mercy, charity, balance, and unity.

TIWANI: I just take some verses and recite them, and I try to show them that there’s a relation between these verses and what we are required by ecology. When people find that these things have a basis in the Koran and [INDISCERNABLE], then they obey.

BRUNWASSER: Tiwani says without knowing about this basis in the Koran, local people often think that environmental education carries a hidden agenda from western countries. And in fact, the MICA program isn’t free of Western influence. The US-based MacArthur Foundation helped fund the original program 10 years ago. But Tiwani says it is based on Islamic ethics. The program also includes education for children, like this play about Islam and the environment. The play is an environmental parable, with a cast of lively characters. Imam Omar Zahor Omar is the leader of the mosque in the children’s village. He says local attitudes have changed since the project started.

SWAHILI SPEAKING

BRUNWASSER: “We knew that the Koran says all of this,” Omar says, “but MICA gave us a reality check. They saw problems coming before we did. They told us what would happen if we didn’t stop, and got us to follow the Koran more carefully.”  But the program doesn’t just tell people what not to do. It’s also helping local people find alternatives to fishing. Hamadi Rashid used to rely on fishing alone. Now he also farms bananas, chopping down his banana trees with a machete. And he says he’s living much better. Another man in the MICA program increased his income so much that he was able to marry two more wives. Hamadi Rashid says he also feels better knowing he’s doing the right thing.

SWAHILI SPEAKING

BRUNWASSER: “It’s God’s law,” Rashid says. “It’s in the Koran. God says don’t damage the environment. Out on his fishing boat, Kombo Hadi Dyumba throws his trap back in and heads for shore. For his half day of efforts, Dyumba’s got about 5 pounds of fish for which he’ll get the equivalent of two dollars and fifty cents. The green Islam program hasn’t restored the fish population here. But it may at least be helping nudge it back in the right direction. For The World, I’m Matthew Brunwasser, Pemba, Tanzania.

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