Islam holds a high regard for environmental stewardship and sees it as a religious duty for Muslims to learn about environmental issues and make changes both individually and collectively to protect the natural environment.
There is growing interest from Islamic leaders in Canadian mosques to engage in sustainable practices, and a definite need to provide them with holistic support and guidance to set and achieve sustainability targets and educate mosque users on environmental stewardship. All of the respondents to our survey want their local mosque to join a program that helps them become environmentally friendly by using resources efficiency and reducing costs.
Since mosques serve both as a place of worship and a place to generate economy, education and social cohesion of the community, they serve as an influential medium for spiritually and behaviorally congruent environmental sustainability interventions in Muslim populations, and for improving and maintaining a healthy environment. In fact, 98.4% of Canadian Muslims surveyed agreed that mosques have an important role in inspiring the Muslim community to care for nature.
