A new breed of Muslim cleric? Imams for the environment

Fifty Muslim clerics were "inducted" into the environmental movement on Thursday in a groundbreaking conference to raise awareness among imams.

Starting off with a traditional prayer, the men, many in traditional garb or headdresses, sat politely through a round of introductions and a subsequent lecture in Arabic on environmental education. However, it wasn't until Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra made an unscheduled appearance at the conference that the imams began to speak out.

Putting his previous experience in the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to good use, Ezra opened the floor to questions after first needling the participants to do more for the environment.

Exhibiting an impressive command of Arabic as well as a thorough knowledge of Israeli-Arab towns and villages, Ezra answered questions from the audience for more than an hour.

The Imams of the Mosques Conference - Islam and Environmental Protection 2008 was sponsored by the Environmental Protection Ministry, the Interior Ministry's Islamic Administration and Religions Department, the Umm el-Fahm Municipality and the Environmental Quality Unit Northern Triangle organization. It was held at the Umm el-Fahm Science and Art Center.

Muhammad Rabah Aghbarieh, director of Environmental Quality Unit Northern Triangle and one of the event's organizers, declared the conference a success.

"The conference's purpose was for the imams to acquire skills, and we achieved that," he said. "They came, they received the materials and they were given a platform to raise their concerns with the environmental protection minister."

This was the first conference of its kind, he told The Jerusalem Post.

"It came about as a result of our efforts to raise awareness. We have programs in community centers and in schools, and there are environmental activist organizations. But no one had ever entered the mosques with this subject," he said.

An older muezzin from Kfar Zalafe, Muhammad Igbaria, was more cautious about the conference's success.

"We came because we were invited [by the Interior Ministry]. We wanted to see how we could help. But first the local council must show that it is doing something and the ministry must show that it is doing something. There is sewage running through the towns, and the ministry is not doing anything," he told the Post.

"They said they would distribute informational materials, so we'll see," he added.

However, Ibrahim Salame, a young imam from the Ajame Mosque in Jaffa, was more positive.

"I got a couple of ideas for a lecture that I'd like to give during Ramadan," he said. "The [Muslim] culture does not relate to the environment as something essential - it is much more connected to individuals' natures. I would like to try to pass on the message and change people's natures."

He added that he would be willing to attend a conference next year as well if it were to be held.

Perhaps even more impressive than the conference itself were the materials that Rabah Aghbarieh's organization and the ministry had prepared. Every imam got a poster with environmental basics outlined, to hang up in his mosque, and stickers saying environmental protection was a religious commandment. There was also a CD containing sources from the Koran and hadith supporting environmental issues, general sources about the environment, a movie about the ministry, and many other informational resources.

Environmental Protection Ministry Haifa District head Robert Reuven said Aghbarieh had worked on the CD for a year. He also said they would be sending it all over the country and all over the world, since "there is no other resource like it for educating your congregations."

During his off-the-cuff opening remarks, Ezra took the audience to task for environmental damage in the Arab villages.

"Since the founding of the state, there has not been an event like this, where the imams of the Haifa district came to a conference of the Environmental Protection Ministry," he began. "Five years ago, if you had asked me what the connection was between imams and environment, I would have said nothing. But health is an important issue."

Ezra immediately launched into a sensitive topic by discussing ways to reduce the noise pollution generated by the calls to prayer.

"MK Ibrahim Sarsour (United Arab List-Ta'al) agreed with me, when he paid a call on me a little while ago, to reduce the number of megaphones for the call to prayer," he said.

"I would be happy if we could relay topics to talk about at the Friday sermons and see if you have an effect," he continued.

"The environment in the Arab villages is pathetic. The houses are always clean, but in public places you see neglect," he said. "We cleaned the Marbad stream, and after two months it was as if it had never been cleaned. We have a problem of sewage - it is not a private problem, but a municipal one. They [the municipalities] claim they don't have money to deal with it. People who pay real estate taxes feel like fools [because the money isn't used for anything]."

Ezra also advocated more cellphone antennas rather than fewer.

"Regarding cellphone antennas, the best thing is not to have a cellphone. If not, then it is best to have an antenna nearby because the further away an antenna is, the harder the phone works [and the more radiation it emits]," he argued.

Once Ezra opened the floor to questions, the imams discussed the issues closest to their hearts, such as sewage treatment, smells from the kibbutz chicken coop next door, and construction waste.

Ezra responded to a question from a Taiba resident by deriding the town's lack of commitment to keeping the city clean.

"I apologize if you sent a letter and didn't get a response. Usually one gets a response within two weeks," he responded without need of a translator. "Taiba got massive government funding, and the money disappeared. Right now, we pay builders to clean up construction waste along Road 6. Municipalities are always asked to contribute some money when the ministry does. The ministry contributed 90 percent, but the municipality did not want to contribute 10%," he said.