Praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. May the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon Muhammad, His last Messenger, his household, his companions and all those who follow him till the Last Day.
A Cat, A Crisis & Hellfire
Prophet Muhammad (sallaallahu alayhi wa sallam) informs us of how a woman earned Allaah's wrath for her mistreatment of a cat. Sheentered the Hellfire on account of a cat that she confined, neither feeding it nor letting it hunt for food. (Bukhaari) She did not deliberately set out to starve the cat to death. She simply neglected it. She confined it and forgot about caring for its needs. In doing so, she denied the cat its fundamental rights as a living thing. Her actions were criminal in Islam's view, even though the victim of the oppression was not a human being, but a simple house cat.
Islamic teachings do not suffice just with encouraging the feeding of the hungry and needy. It teaches consideration for the rights of others on every level, down to the most basic of dining etiquettes. A Muslim must show respect for food and drink, and likewise for other human beings whom he must share it with. How should Islam then view the unfolding oppression against fellow human beings on a scale that has created a global food crisis and created spiraling prices of basic food items throughout the world? This is the exact effect that the production of biofuels as an alternative source of energy to fossil fuels [oil and gas] has had!
A Crime Against Humanity
Jean Ziegler, UN Special Rapporteur for, the Right to Food recently announced that: "Producing biofuels today is a crime against humanity." He explained that biofuels have created food shortages and sent food prices soaring, leaving millions of poor people hungry. The World Nutrition Organization has confirmed that biofuels are one of the chief reasons for rising food prices around the globe. We must understand what biofuel production means in terms of crop consumption. To produce amere 50 liters of ethanol from corn, it takes 350 square kilometers of farmland.
This is enough com to feed a child for a year! Ziegler calls for a five year moratorium on biofuel production to halt the growing "catastrophe" for poor people. "Scientific research is progressing very quickly", he said, "and in five years it will be possible to make biofuel and biodiesel from agricultural waste" not from wheat, maize, sugar cane and other food crops.
He also said "the effect of transforming hundreds and hundreds of thousands of tons of maize, of wheat, of beans, of palm oil, into agricultural fuel is absolutely catastrophic for the hungry people." He explained that the world price of wheat doubled in one year and the price of maize quadrupled, leaving poor countries, especially in Africa, unable to pay for the imported food they need to feed their people and the poor people in those countries unable to pay the soaring prices for food! "So it's a crime against humanity it's a crime against humanity to convert agricultural productive soil into soil which will be burned into biofuel"; he said. With this, it should be as clear as day to us that the irresponsible conversion of farmland for biofuel production, which is causing food, shortages and soaring food prices, is unethical and inhumane.
It is a case of neglecting basic human needs on a global scale. Allaah has subjected the Earth and its material wealth to our service. This is a trust. We should, therefore, not let the most basic needs of Earth's people be sacrificed to crass material interests!
Hayya AlIa Salaah
The Rasul (sallaallahu alayhi wa sallam) gave no excuse to the blind man; he said to him:
"If you hear the call, you must respond", (Muslim).
The call rings out every hour round the globe but at five specific times a day in your neighbourhood. It is time for salaah. You know its importance - it is the difference between kufr [unbelief] and eeman [faith] and it is the first and the most important qualifying deed for Paradise [al-jannah] - but are you really sure that you know how to pray? You should know the proper way to say the salaah after reading this edition. And if you do, here is a reminder; for reminding benefits the believers.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited