Religion Plays Major Role In Addressing Climate Change

IPOH (Perak, Malaysia), Oct 19 (Bernama) -- Religion plays a major role in addressing climate change, according to the director-general of the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM), Prof Dr Azizan Baharuddin. Hence, she urged all entities and organisations regardless of religious affiliation, to work together to find a holistic approach for better results in addressing the issue. "Climate change is man-made and can be avoided, while the solutions require holistic knowledge and actions. In Islamic terms, for example, it is about combining ilm fardhu ain (personal obligatory religious knowledge) and fardhu kifayah (communal obligatory practices), and failure to do that can lead to imbalance or catastrophes. "People need to realise that our Creator creates everything for a purpose but humans sometimes forget about it until it affects us, just like the high-tide phenomenon we are facing right now. "This happens because humans have neglected the environment and nature," she said at a session in conjunction with the 3rd World Conference on Islamic Thought and Civilisation (WCIT) 2016, here, Tuesday. Azizan said based on a research done by the Department of Civic Design, University of Liverpool, the role of religion was empirically verified and it could enable the world's societies and individuals to take the necessary actions to address climate change factors. "With today's development, we have slowly lost touch on basic living because we are too busy chasing development that we forget and are not concerned about the environment which in the end, can cause natural disasters and humanitarian crisis. "Muslims have been blessed with the Quran, but sadly we have not been using its teachings as a guideline in preserving the environment (against wastage and destruction). For example, during the month of Ramadan, how much food do we waste?" Azizan said the first step that everyone must take "is realising how important this earth is to us and that the responsibility to protect nature is not just the government and NGOs' but every person's". -- BERNAMA