EcoMuslims Moving On Up

Over to Westminster, Black Rod entrance, for an EcoMuslim Eid meeting in the House of Lords. Omar Faruk is CEO of EcoMuslim. The discussion covered the Climate Change Act, what is going to replace the Kyoto Protocol, and the Road to Copenhagen. Also present, notably, were representatives from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Home Office, and different think tanks.

Omar Faruk talked about the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, describing how the cross-party EcoMuslim group would like to help Muslim majority states to become more energy efficient and reduce carbon emmissions, in addition to other stated aims. He noted that of the top ten carbon producing countries in the world, three were Gulf nations; Kuwait, Saudia Arabia, and Quatar. He said that he felt it was important to work with all countries belonging to the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

My interest stems from my work along the Islamic belt of countries. Before I commenced assignments on those nations, I read the Koran a couple of times. It was particularly necesary because I made a BBC documentary about prominent women in Pakistan called 'Women of Islam.' I was impressed with Omar Faruk's knowledge of Arabic and his interpretations of various Koranic verses. The British-educated barrister told me afterwards that he studied Arabic in the South of France. He is keen to develop EcoMuslim for several reasons. One of them, he explained, was because,

'People who care about the environment seldom undertake activities to destroy it.'