Abstract
Ramadan has been a pillar of Islam since the religion’s founding and has been practiced through a month-long series of rituals involving praying and fasting. In light of current environmental crises, many believers of various faiths have created environmental non-profits with a religious message. One such non-governmental organization is Green Muslims, which, among other projects, has created programs to make Ramadan rituals more sustainable. I examine both emic and etic analyses of Ramadan and efforts to green these calendrical rituals. Specifically, I examine the various resources Green Muslims provide to green Ramadan, as well as scholarly sources of Islamic environmentalism and the history of Ramadan. I show how Muslims adapt Islamic ritual to address the significant current societal issue of widespread environmental crises by analyzing the case study of Green Muslims’ Ramadan related programs.
Presenters
Avalon Jade TheisenPhD Student and Graduate Teaching Assistant, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Arizona State University, Arizona, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Multiple Legacies: Heritage, Traditions, Local Ecologies, Knowledge, Values, Protection
KEYWORDS
Islam, Environmentalism, NGOs, Ramadan, Religion, Nonprofit, Sustainability, Climate
