by Adela Suliman | @adela_suliman
Thursday, 23 May 2019 10:31 BST
Located in the world-famous British university city, the mosque opened its doors just in time for the fasting month of Ramadan and is adorned with wooden columns and solar panels
By Adela Suliman
LONDON – Europe’s first green mosque is hoping to harness the power of Islam to tackle climate change, urging Muslims who worship in the British newbuild to do more to protect the planet.
As one of the fastest growing faiths in the world, Islam could be a powerful force if Muslims were stirred to environmental action, climate activists say.
Which is where Cambridge Central Mosque steps in.
Located in the world-famous British university city, the mosque opened its doors in May just in time for the fasting month of Ramadan. It is adorned with latticed columns, clad in solar panels and surrounded by crab apples, with space for 1,000 and a mission to become a force for climate good.
“The mosque symbolises the spiritual heart of the Muslim community, it’s the central locus where the worshipper connects to God,” said mosque trust patron and musician Cat Stevens.
Stevens, famous for hit songs “Wild World” and “Morning Has Broken”, became Muslim in the 1970s and is now known as Yusuf Islam. He told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that Muslims had an important role to play in tackling the climate crisis.
“It (the mosque) is part of the re-education process, digging deeper into the true nature of Islam to reveal its harmony with the balance of the universe,” said Stevens.
“Many Muslims have forgotten this and are not contributing enough to the present climate crisis.”
The 24-million-pound ($30-million) building, funded largely by the Turkish government, will welcome hundreds of worshippers for night prayers every night, during this month of Ramadan – following a 18-hour fast from food and drink in daylight hours.
With recycled rainwater to irrigate the gardens and energy-harvesting heat pumps, the mosque says it produces close to zero carbon emissions and boasts better green credentials than the thousands of other mosques that are scattered across Europe.
“The Koran emphasises the beauty and harmony of the natural world as a sign of God’s creative power and wisdom,” said mosque trust chairman and Cambridge University professor, Timothy Winter, also known as Abdal Hakim Murad.
“The struggle against climate change and the mass extinction of species is not only a practical question of human survival, but is a battle to respect and protect God’s gifts.”
ENCHANTED FOREST
Large skylights illuminate the main prayer hall so no artificial lights are needed by day, while the rooftop is dressed in panels that turn sun to power.
It is not just the building that is green.
The mosque follows broad Islamic principles that favour environmental protection, say Muslim climate experts, be it the stewardship of God’s earth or sacred teachings on preserving water, planting trees and protecting animals.
“Muslims could be a powerful force that can be mobilised against climate change,” said Shanza Ali, co-founder of Muslim Climate Action, a British advocacy group.
“However this would require us to go back to Islamic teachings and back to valuing the skills, ideas and respect that communities would give the environment,” she said.
For Ali, a fixed eco-message would not work for the world’s diverse 1.8 billion Muslims; a pluralistic approach could better “revive the connection” between Islam and the environment.
“Projects like the Cambridge mosque are going to be critical in raising awareness and showing people that this isn’t just a niche issue that some Muslims have picked up, but it’s an issue at the heart of our belief,” she said.
In 2015, Islamic faith leaders came together to urge Muslims to play a more active role in combating climate change in a declaration that was welcomed by the United Nations.
The declaration lamented the “corruption” that humans had caused and called for lower emissions, an end to deforestation and greater commitment to renewable energy sources.
Religious leaders from Pope Francis to the Dali Lama have preached similar eco-messages, warning their faithful of the dangers of growing climate change.
According to the Alliance of Religions and Conservation charity, the world’s big faiths could galvanise some 5 billion people into climate action, 85% of the world’s population.
In Britain, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams – representing some 85 million Christians globally – endorsed Green Party political candidates ahead of Thursday’s European elections, saying it was “harder and harder to pretend that we’re not living in the middle of the most serious environmental crisis in recorded history.”
HT/Willie Soon
Will women be admitted in this mosque in exactly the same way men will?
Evil twisted death cult partners with the religion of peace.
Islam and most of the Green movement have a common goal, “submission.”
“Trump Administration Hardens Its Attack on Climate Science”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/27/us/politics/trump-climate-science.html?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=9689e5ff2e-briefing-dy-20190528&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-9689e5ff2e-42532523&fbclid=IwAR11jYNkV8HJf5BUuIEX-RMXFMmT9v6cV04C3vRsq-8xCrVJCgJFFr8O39c
“James Reilly, a former astronaut and petroleum geologist, has ordered that scientific assessments produced by that office use only computer-generated climate models that project the impact of climate change through 2040, rather than through the end of the century, as had been done previously.”
The NY Slimes is terrified that real science under Happer’s guidance will take over.
“The Koran emphasises the beauty and harmony of the natural world as a sign of God’s creative power and wisdom,” said mosque trust chairman and Cambridge University professor, Timothy Winter, also known as Abdal Hakim Murad”
The Qur’an emphasizes that Jews are descended from apes and pigs, that Muslims should take no friends among Christians and Jews, that death can be dealt to unbelievers when Ramadan is over, and that it’s fine to take captured women as sex-slaves.
Such is the beauty and harmony revealed in the Qur’an by the creative power of the god of Timothy Winter aka Abdul Hakim Murad. The guy’s a certifiable idiot.
It is very interesting that Islam and the Green Movement have been joined under the same roof so to speak. It just furthers my suspicions that these mass immigrations, AGW and renewables are all part of the plan to destroy Western Governments by financial ruin. From the ashes they will create the new One World Government that will be ruled by a select few.
I see a bad moon rising
I see troubles on the way
“With recycled rainwater to irrigate the gardens and energy-harvesting heat pumps, the mosque says it produces close to zero carbon emissions and boasts better green credentials than the thousands of other mosques that are scattered across Europe.”
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Every mosque serves tea and sweets to its visitors.
Show me a mosque with up to 1.000 visitors boiling water for tea, baking sweets or get them delivered, doing the laundry and so on:
that produces close to zero carbon emissions!
Needs a strong believe.
Has someone evaluated the carbon footprint of 9/11 ?
Life is carbon based on this planet. Maybe 2% is organic carbon.
98% of carbon on Earth is inorganic carbon (oxidized to CO2 or carbonates).
So your answer:
2,996 people. The immediate deaths included 265 on the four planes (including the terrorists), 2,606 in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area, and 125 at the Pentagon.
Then add in the endless Afghan wars, Iraq, Libya all based 9/11 footprint on the Constitution.
“Many Muslims have forgotten this and are not contributing enough to the present climate crisis.”
They want them to contribute more to the climate crisis? Or perhaps more to help ameliorate the climate crisis?
God, in the guise of Mother Nature is the party responsible for climate change. Since climate change is physically caused by the sun and the oceans over which mankind has no control, praying to God may be a better approach than anything else people have come up with. The problem is that we do not know what the optimum climate is so we do not know exactly what to pray for. Extreme weather events are associated with our current climate and all known climate regimes.
I am uncertain whether the author understands how religion works.
The deity of Islam is not a member of the “Holy Trinity” so don’t claim such.
The main deity (character) in Islam proper is still the God Almighty the same one as per the story in Judaism and Christianity…same basic story line there… either fictional or not.
And still Holy Spirit it happens to be or considered so as one of the trilogy in the “Holy Trinity”…
The same one, either as in the proposition of Abraham, Moses, Messiah or Muhammad…
The same one , either as in the context of the story line of Torah, The Holy Bible or Quran.
cheers
Islam is strictly opposed to the idea of the Trinity, and Jesus as the Son of God.
But if a God, be it Christian, Islamic or Buddhist , etc. ., then why do
“Nasty things”‘ happen. Is he or she a nice thing or not .
But I am forgetting, what about the Garden of Eden, we are all sinning,
so the punishment has to occur all of the time.
Another thought, the likes of Saudi Arabia is not what I would call a
beautiful place, so what are we to save for the future, lots and lots more sand.
MJE VK5ELL
Does the interior not remind one of the large mosque- cathedral at Cordoba , with its many columns , albeit rather dark inside as I recall.
I wonder what the building looks like from the outside and how it tones in , if it does, with the medieval, renaissance and Georgian architecture of Cambridge.
As Rome’s Francis with Lautado Si has gone Gaia, followed by Bartholemeu of the Orthodox, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the greening of religions is in full swing – exactly Prince Philip’s Alliance of Religion and Conservation , ARC, put in play. http://www.arcworld.org/projects.asp?projectID=54
Islam is now to be greened, and where better to start than Cambridge, MI6′ recruiting ground.
Maybe Iran won’t play along? How about the Saudi’s – already green?
Anyone seriously interested should consult Cribratio Alkorani (Critique of the Koran) by Nicolas de Cusa, the founder of modern science (De Docta Ignoranta – On Learned Ignorance). There is a detailed stanza by stanza analysis of the Koran from a christian point of view.
Historically Mohammed is linked to Nestorians, a schismatic branch of the Church.
By the way, those climate “science is settled” operatives need some learned ignorance!
Very good that someone mentioned the fabulous Spainsh Moorish (Islamic) architecture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorish_architecture
Is there a recommended green suicide explosive vest that does not harm the environment after the attack?
Well. It IS a very pretty building.
Islam is busted! If you do a search on Dan Gibson, Jay Smith, Christian Prince, David Wood, Patricia Crone, Bill Warner, Apostate Prophet, go through the material provided, you find out it doesn’t have a leg to stand on, it has been debunked on multiple levels. For Islam to go Green is only compounding the stupidity.