Halal =sustainability

My younger sister is a tree hugger, atleast that is what i call her. She did her studies in economics with a special interest in sustainable development. She recently got a job and in the interview they had asked her why she was interested in working in sustainable development and my sister who in outward appearance does not come across as a religious person told the interviewer because that is what her religion taught her to do. I had asked my sister why she had said that and she said, well apa Islam is all about sustainability, we are encouraged to live a life of service to others where we are good to the environment and treat all creatures humanely. I thought wow, she is so right i never did look at it quite this way before; yet when I think about it, it is true. We are told not to beat work animals and to treat them kindly, feed them well and give them plenty of rest and not over work them. When it comes to crops and trees we are told not to burn, cut or destroy crops even in times of warfare. When it comes to eating animals there are strict guidelines on how to kill them and not only how to kill them but also how to raise them.

These last few days my friends and I have been having discussions regarding method of Halal and all my research led me to a lot of information regarding how the throat of the animal must be cut, how the blood be drained how things are to be cleaned prior to the killing and after the killing. What verses of the Quran are to be recited etc. However, the things that really piqued my interest was that there is also strict guidelines on how to raise the animal. It must be raised on good vegetarian diet, not be fed ground animal bits. It must be allowed to roam free and it must be treated with kindness and calmed down before being killed. It also got me to thinking that although Islam allows us to eat meat it does not tell us to just eat meat or to eat meat mostly. Cause when we study the life of the prophet and examine his diet we find it to be quite simple and again following organic and sustainable practices. His sustenance was mostly dates, water and sorgham (jowar) flour. He did eat meat occasionally but even than liked to share it with other people, it is a good practice to send some meat curry to your neighbor when it is cooked at home. So here is my beef with whole halal/haram debate. First of all halal is a way of life which extends beyond how we cut and kill our meat. It is also about how we treat them prior to killing them. Halal is also not just about what we eat but also about how we live our lives, it is about conservation about all else. Islam discourages needless consumerism by encouraging us to spend our time and energy wisely in service to other creatures and in spending time gaining knowledge and our expertise in other areas of life. It is about living passionately and in harmony with out environment while inflicting minimum damage to it.

My sister was right Halal is synonymous with sustainability and conservation. It is about leaving our planet a little better than how we found it, and if we cannot leave it better; lets try and not leave it in a worse off state.