ظَهَرَ ٱلْفَسَادُ فِى ٱلْبَرِّ وَٱلْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِى ٱلنَّاسِ لِيُذِيقَهُم بَعْضَ ٱلَّذِى عَمِلُواْ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ
Mischief has appeared in the land and the sea because of what the hands of the mankind have earned, that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, so that they may return (turn to Allah)
Quraan: surat Al-Room, verse 41
I praise God Almighty, the Creator of all the Heavens and Earth, and His blessings upon His Prophets and Messengers, foremost among them Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him (pbuh).
Islam is the way of life the Creator of all things has chosen for human kind. As revealed in the Quraan and explained and lived by Prophet Muhammad pbuh, Islam teaches that people should live as God’s vicegerents on Earth and submit to Him, and that they should uphold justice in all aspects of life.
As God’s vicegerents, we are ‘entrusted’ with Earth and all its ecosystems, life forms and natural cycles. Our food comes from the innumerable bounties God has created on Earth, and human beings have been granted permission to use it to sustain themselves - so long as they ‘keep the balance’ and protect the rights of all things God created. If they do not, what is happening is what Allah swt promised in surat Al Room verse 41.
From that submitted mindset (the meaning of the Arabic word ‘Muslim’), Muslims should not be engaging or enabling actions and consumption habits or socioeconomic norms that degrade the environment, damage ecosystems, harm people and cause harm and imbalance to Earth’s environment and ecosystems.
The basic needs of life for human beings are air to breath, food (and water) for sustenance, and shelter for safety. Of these, food production and consumption is the one basic need through which we have caused the most damage to other life forms and to Earth’s environmental and ecosystem balance, especially in the last 200 years as our ability to wield the sciences has advanced. To be sure, people would add to the list other needs they see as basic needs. Even though they are not necessary for survival, the methods being used to satisfy these ‘other needs’ also add to the negative impacts the human species is having.
Modern humans (industrial age on) have been able to move earth and rock (and even mountains), dam rivers and create reservoirs, extract fossil fuels from the ground and oceans at great depths and use our modern sciences to fractionate and purify them to power our cars, ships, aircraft, weapons, heating and cooling machines, etc.
Without the correct mindset to guide it, this incredible science driven power has resulted in a very high negative impact on the cycles of life on Earth. There is a growing understanding and acceptance that this extractive and destructive existence cannot continue – our numbers and impact are just too high for Earth to endure them without dire consequences.
It is not the ability to control and manage these forces of nature on Earth that is the problem, rather, it is the mindset by which the dominant cultures have carried out these actions that is the problem. The two dominant cultures in the world today are 1) the secular/atheist culture and 2) the Christian culture.
The secular/atheist mindset does not believe there is a God that has rights upon human beings, nor in a day of judgement on which everyone’s actions will be judged, based on a ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ scale, by our Creator. There is no accounting after death in the secular/atheist mindset.
The Christian culture has viewed nature and other life forms from the prism of the ‘Dominion’ theory, wherein humans have been given Earth and all that is on it to do with as they please, and no other creatures are owed anything or have any rights. There is no sanctity for the ‘trust’ we have been given as there is in Islam. That God would be angry with us for polluting the rivers and oceans and soils and pushing species to extinction is not preached, nor are our actions seen as sinful.
Thus, these two dominant mindsets have driven the majority of the damage humans caused to Earth and its web of life, especially as almost all Muslim countries are followers to these two dominant cultures - and do as they do. Indeed, Muslims have largely been complicit in the damage done - and continue to be. Muslim adherence to the teachings of Islam has become so weak that we are failing in virtually all our obligations to our Creator except those known as the five pillars which have to do with the selfish personal salvation like prayers, giving zakat, fasting in Ramadan, pronouncing Shahada and performing Hajj. The irony is that Prophet Muhammad pbuh said that Islam was built on the five pillars, not that Islam is the five pillars.
If Muslim societies, and human societies in general, were to implement and adhere to what Islam teaches we would create a very differently organized society – a far more just and equitable one. To address the narrow focus of the title, I will briefly describe how a Muslim mindset would critique the food systems we have today.
First we define ‘food systems’. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: this includes growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption, distribution and disposal of food and food-related items. It also includes the inputs needed and outputs generated at each of these steps (but these are too vast to address here).
A To grow food (and raise animals as sources of food) we use the following natural resources:
Soils: This is the womb in which all non animal food grows. God created soils in the best balance. Soil science teaches us there are different types of soils and different stages of soil development and degradation. In their undisturbed states, the majority of soil types are alive. They contain microflora (bacteria and fungi), microfauna (tiny insects and animals, and earthworms) that breakdown organic matter and return it to its elemental form ready for absorption by plant roots. Modern food production methodologies are based on the arrogance that humans know better than the Creator, or that there is no Creator and humans can improve on nature. From that mindset, the dominant cultures have looked at soil as an inert, non-living medium from which mineral elements are absorbed by roots of crops, and into which mineral elements in the form of chemical fertilizers can be pumped to maintain fertility for crop plants. From this arrogant mentality, industrial/conventional agriculture the world-over today pumps so much mineral fertilizer, as well as herbicides and pesticides into soils that the soil microfauna and microflora are poisoned and killed leaving behind soils that are, in fact, inert and ‘dead’ where they were not so before human intervention. The increasing interest in organic, regenerative and sustainable agriculture by the more educated and informed (and financially able) consumers is slowly driving the agriculture industries (mostly in western countries) to review their approach to soil, but only out of a growing necessity and desire to 1) preserve long term productivity of increasingly scarce fertile soils and 2) maintain consumer loyalty and revenue streams. The Muslim mindset is in sync with regenerative, restorative use of soils.
Water: Islam teaches that the natural cycles on Earth were created by God, and science enlightens us that one of their functions is to purify water for the well-being of all life. When the dominant cultures looked at water as a commodity that only humans have rights in and dominion over, they abused it and continue to do so. Whether it is the quality of fresh water in streams, rivers, ponds and lakes, or of salt water in seas and oceans, the dominant culture mindsets have polluted these water sources to such an extent that entire ocean ecosystems and numerous species are suffering long-term damage and destruction. Microplastics are now found in the meat of all ocean and fresh water fish, animals and plants. Microplastics have even been found in the snow in the north and south poles. Very harmful and toxic chemicals are constantly being dumped in fresh and salt water bodies, the world over. Clean water sources suitable for drinking by humans and animals alike are dwindling, globally. The Muslim mindset however, views water as a blessing about which we shall be asked on the day of judgement. The Quraan makes it clear that God gave us a huge blessing and favor in water bodies and the life forms that lives in them. Prophet Muhammad pbuh left us many authenticated sayings (Hadith) that expressly and clearly sanctify water and prohibit abusing or polluting it.
Air: Both animals and plants need air to live. Agriculture could not be practiced without air containing oxygen and carbon and nitrogen and all the other elements needed by different life forms Created by God to live and prosper on Earth. Life forms that breath to extract oxygen and expel carbon dioxide could not survive without the carefully balanced gaseous composition of air. As a result of the extractive, dominion, no-accountability mindset of the dominant cultures, we have severe threats to life on Earth due to different pollutants that our ‘modern’ lifestyle releases into the air; and the horrific pollution affects even the layers of the atmosphere (ozone layer) that play a crucial role in shielding all life on Earth from harmful (ultraviolet) radiation from the sun and other extraterrestrial sources. Greenhouse gases (CFCs and HCFCs, methane, etc.) continue to be produced and released into the atmosphere causing increasing heat retention and driving the greenhouse effect which traps the sun’s heat and melts the ice caps. Industrial and conventional agriculture practices that the dominant mindsets rely on are major sources of these destructive pollutants being released into Earth’s atmosphere and negatively affecting air quality and driving the destructive climate changes we see today. The Muslim mindset however, would proceed to revise the methodology of our life-activities to be based on viewing the air also as a trust from our Creator that other life forms have a right in and which belongs to its Creator and should not be damaged.
Natural vegetation: The mindset of the dominant cultures does not accept that the balance our Creator put in place on Earth should be respected and preserved. That is one of the reasons why such huge swaths of forest and jungle are being cleared yearly to make way for mining, fossil fuels industries, conventional/industrial agriculture, housing developments, and other activities harmful to Earth’s ecosystems. Yet, modern science also shows us that natural vegetation is critical for soil stabilization against erosion, for maintenance of fertility, for production of oxygen and consumption of carbon dioxide (carbon sinks), and conversion of the sun’s energy into useful organic forms on Earth. Land denuded of its forests and jungles to be used for conventional/industrial agricultural activities very often falls into ruination and becomes susceptible to desertification. Some of the reasons are that the loss of the large amount of vegetation found in forests and jungles means a drastic drop in rain capture and humidity driven by photosynthesis of the natural tree cover. Dryer conditions set in, organic mature in soils decreases drastically, and desertification begins. The Muslim mindset would not do this. The Muslim mindset is one that respects science and scientists but guides them to not cause harm to our planet. In this field, the Muslim mindset would legislate to protect forests and jungles from destruction and regulate their economic uses to protect them while still benefiting from them.
B. Once grown, food needs to be harvested, processed and packed, and to accomplish that we employ people and machines for work, and consume materials from nature:
Growing and harvesting food, and the rights of food industry employees: The Muslim mindset acknowledges that every human being has rights that must be upheld and respected. These rights were given to them by the Creator. Chief among the rues our Creator wants us to live by are that no one goes hungry and no one takes more than their fair share of food – or anything else (no excess or waste). The Muslim mindset does not oblige society to welfare when a person is able to work and earn their living, but it enjoins fairness in work places, conditions and contracts. The Muslim mindset, would require fair wages and work conditions, respectful treatment of employees by employers and fair wages for the work done. The Muslim mindset would require wages for the lowest earning employees to be such that their dignity is preserved and they are not ‘below the poverty line’, as we in fact see today - even in richer countries of the dominant mindset today (N. America & Europe). The rights of workers and employees in the Muslim mindset extend far beyond wages however, and addresses issues of work-place safety, training, and dignified treatment – even workforce sharing in profits.
Food processing, machinery and fossil fuels: Processing food, on an industry and country level, requires constructing appropriately equipped facilities and production laboratories that use electricity or fossil fuels to run and operate the machinery used in the processing. This is often done in quite a polluting manner and significant waste material from the processing methods are thrown out in land fills or dumps, and in waterways, lakes and rivers, etc. Apart from the large industrial scale machinery used in the cultivation and harvesting of crops, processing is the next step that consumes horrendous amounts of fossil fuels and electricity and generates a lot of waste material that can be quite polluting and slow to degrade. Food processing too can be quite unjust to the labor force. The Muslim mindset would change the manner by which processing is carried out to reduce or cut out pollution and fossil fuel consumption. Many stabilizing chemicals or compounds added to processed foods are harmful either to human health or to the environment and would be cut out in favor of far less harmful and polluting processing. The same issues of labor force justice and safety concerns apply in processing as well.
Food packaging and materials used: The next step is food packaging and this has increasingly become a major source of very harmful pollution which affects human health and development, as well as that of every other living thing that comes in contact with it. Most prevalent among food packaging material are different types of plastics, cardboard, and lots of different types of glues, sealants, and adhesives. Plastic packaging are now found clogging major rivers and their smaller tributaries the world over. They can be found floating in the most pristine waters of beautiful beaches in the most remote parts of the world’s oceans and seas. Some plastic degrades and becomes much smaller particles that breakdown even further till it becomes the microplastic particles that are now in the fiber of almost every plant and animal or microorganism found on planet Earth. Many chemicals leach out of plastics and disrupt the normal functions of animals bodies. As an example, phthalates are a class of chemical compounds that are endocrine disruptors which scientific research has also linked to abnormal child brain development, not to speak of their impacts on other animals in the Earth’s ecosystems. In fact, there is a very large body of scientific evidence condemning the effects of today’s most popular packing materials on the environment and human development. Thus, it is unconscionable that all the important regulatory agencies in countries leading the world based on the mindset of the two dominant cultures have not banned them outright. The Muslim mindset would require politicians, legislators, physicians, officials at regulatory agencies and all decision makers in the myriad agencies and official bodies found in any country to act quickly to stop the horrendous harms these packing materials are causing.
C. Once Packaged, food needs to be transported, stored, distributed and marketed:
Food transportation: Again, the dominant culture mindset does not see a problem with the transportation modes employed in the entire world at this time, whether to transport food products or anything else. Most depend on fossil fuels that result in terrible pollution that is no longer arguable in any venue. The Muslim mindset would not allow this to continue without working very hard to find alternatives that do not cause pollution or have a much smaller polluting impact. Passive energy sources abound and there is great interest in them, but the rich and powerful have their material gain and worldly pleasures dependent on fossil fuel industries and are refusing to convert to more environmentally friendly technologies. The Muslim mindset would be compelled to challenge them. Only when that happens will we have hope that change will occur.
Food storage: Typically, food product storage requires refrigeration. This requires cooling and freezing equipment that utilizes several types of coolant gases that are very harmful to the ozone layer. This has been a known fact the world over for a few decades now, yet not enough has been done about it and these gases continue to cause great harm. This would not be permitted in societies and economies that run according to the Muslim mindset as there are explicit rules related to harming the balance of nature and the rights of other creatures.
Food distribution: Food distribution and utilization are central factors in what makes a food system. A food system guided and shaped by a Muslim mindset fairly and justly addresses food distribution and utilization. Today, we see how the rich and powerful dominant cultures are over-consuming, over-extracting and exploiting natural resources of other nations. Food distribution in societies governed by the dominant culture mindset today is such that poor members of society live in food deserts (it is a form of food apartheid) and the bad (fast) food available to them is driving many diseases and organ malfunctions. This would be an unacceptable sin for the Muslim mindset. Nor would a society guided by the Muslim mindset would not facilitate or encourage overeating and indulgence to the levels we see in societies that employ the dominant culture mindset today. This has a lot to do with how food utilization is viewed. Excess food from restaurants and supermarkets is thrown away in societies where the dominant culture mindset rules. This is egregious behavior for the Muslim mindset because preventing the poor from utilizing perfectly good food that cannot be consumed for a financial return (by those with financial means) is a sin. In the dominant cultures today, there is a horrendous waste of food, and an economic system that prevents and punishes giving excess food to those in need without a cost. That is why restaurants, supermarkets, hotels and resorts and other food retailers throw away an unconscionable amount of food even as there are large numbers of their population who are food deprived and in great need. A growing ethics-anchored movement in the west is starting to pay attention to this point. But, for the Muslim mindset, these issues were solved by our Creator and His Prophet pbuh more than 1400 years ago.
Food marketing: The Muslim mindset would impact how food is marketed from the perspectives of its prohibition on making false claims and promoting products that science has shown to be harmful to people and planet. The ethical foundation of the Muslim mindset is such that it would turn things upside down in societies governed by the two dominant mindsets today.
D. After marketing, food is either consumed or it is disposed of:
Consumption habits: An Islamic mindset regulates consumption habits based on the values God has clarified in the Quraan and the authenticated sunnah and teachings of Prophet Muhammad pbuh. Those include not wasting, not engaging in excesses, not hoarding, not monopolizing to maximize profit, and not sinking too far into the worldly physical desires (which dull a person’s spirituality, compassion and empathy) foremost among which is eating and drinking excesses. The consumption habits of the dominant cultures do not respect those values. Another consumption habit that is very destructive is wanting anything to be available at any time without respect for seasonality of foods and the wisdom behind it. This constant need to satisfy any desire and make anything available, in any amount, at any time of year to the inhabitants of societies adopting the dominant culture’s mindset means that exploitation, excess and waste cannot be controlled and their practice and satisfaction will contribute to environmental and ecological degradation, as we in fact see today. The Muslim mindset shuns that and teaches people that there are lessons in the fact that things have seasons and that one cannot/should not have anything they desire at any time. It comes back to the set of values that are so integral to the Muslim mindset. The two dominant mindsets have no respect for the limits and cautions that God repeatedly conveyed to human beings through the prophets and messengers He sent.
Value of food: The Muslim mindset also addresses the value of food. We are taught that our Creator puts blessing in our food and that we should not waste food (or the resources that we need to produce it) because we do not know where the blessing might be (perhaps in that last spoon or two that you threw away, even though you could have eaten it). Not wasting food or resources needed to produce it also shows gratitude to our Sustainer, and gratitude is part of faith in Islam. The dominant cultures however, do not view wasting food or natural resources needed to produce it as a sin, but merely a matter subject to financial choices aimed at maximizing material enjoyment and profitability within the socioeconomic systems they created. The value of food is limited, in that mindset, to its financial value and the potential financial benefit from the decisions relative to handling food. If giving it to the poor will involve logistical problem that will cost governments and businesses money they opt to throw the excess food ‘away’.
Waste management: Plastic packaging and products thrown in the ocean on one side of the world end up on the shores or in the fish eaten on the other side of the world. Pollutants thrown away by being dumped in the air or water in one continent make it to the other continents on the other side of planet Earth. Huge amounts of edible food are also thrown into dumpsites and landfills causing pollution of water, soil and air. The dominant culture mindset has also contributed directly to the huge problem of environmental pollution due to the phrase ‘throw it away’. Today, most people have some level of appreciation that there is no ‘away’. Away turned out to be the floating plastic waste island in the south Pacific! Food thrown away also contributes directly to environmental pollution and negative climate change due to the fact that food waste in waste disposal sites are a major source of methane and other gases resulting from decomposition of organic matter. It contributes to diseases and animal populations that can be vectors of disease to the often nearby human concentrations. A lot of food products are also thrown away in their original packaging which is often plastic or other packaging that degrades equally slowly or with similar polluting impacts to plastic.
In summary:
The Islamic mindset approaches structuring of society with respect to the economic and natural resource use and conservation based on very different values from the extractive, destructive and exploitative mindset of the two dominant cultures today. This is why Muslims say Prophet Muhammad did not preach a religion, but a complete way of life.
