ISLAM STRESSES WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
BY
MIR TARIQ RASOOL

Nature, We live with it, in it, around it. Some of us take deep delight in hiking through the woods with others or solitary walks along deserted beaches. Others enjoy weekend bird watching events and some of us are employed to take accurate counts of wildlife and to protect it. Others see nature in an entirely different way. To them, nature is to be dominated and exploited. Entire species of animal and plant life have been destroyed, and continue to be destroyed, by humans who hunt them to extinction or have obliterated the habitats that allowed them to thrive. If man originally hunted to survive, now the profit motive is often the ultimate reason for these acts of destruction. Others simply seem to derive some satisfaction from the very act of destruction. Humankind has altered the environment around the globe and has been responsible for both deliberate and unintentional acts of destruction including the destruction of wild life Habitat.
However, humans have also known that nature, in both its obvious details and the mysterious “laws of nature” that man has always struggled to comprehend, are vital to our survival — as individuals and as a species.
Trees are being chopped and put up for sale, the fishes are killed in the lakes by water pollution, the skins and bones of tiger are exchanged in the border area and rare migratory birds are captured and sold in the black markets around the world. Yet, every year around this time, (October 2 to 8) governments, environmentalists, activists to accelerate the awareness of wildlife conservation among people, observe Wildlife Week. NGOs or self-claimed conservationists can be seen busy in sponsoring the Wildlife week celebrations and papers are full with the write-ups of wildlife conservation, but all with insufficient results. Why government is not able to curb the growing extinction of Wild Species and destruction of habitat thereof? It needs to be analyzed. The mandate to conserve the wild species is given to the NGOs or self-claimed conservationists, who have only financial and materialistic benefits in handling the projects of Wildlife conservation, columnists and article writers, are just exercising their word gymnastics by writing on the issue. it needs deep change of mind set of the people while dealing with the problem and this job can eased by various methods which includes a cheap, easy comprehendible Islamic methodology of conserving Wild life.
With a growing urge among the Muslims for a better understanding the basic outlines of an ideal but practicable Islamic way of life, the study and relevance of Quran Seerat-un-Nabi has acquired added importance. The environment is central in Islam. Many Islamic concepts or principles in the Quran and in the words and actions of the Prophet, such as Tawheed (Unity of God), Khilafah (vicegerency), Umma (community), Adl (justice), Ihsan (kindness), Hikma (wisdom) and Tawadu (modesty), carry substantive implications concerning the relationship between humankind and the natural environment. Due to the growing impact of deforestation, continuous efforts are being made by some anxious animal lovers to protect the endangered species of wildlife as well as those that are on the verge of extinction and thus save the world from running out its green heritage. Wildlife is important for four main reasons: (1) Beauty: By their unique way of existence, wild creatures exaggerate the natural beauty of the earth.(2)Economic value: The financial value of wild species is important to the economies of several nations, as it provides many valuable substances like wood and other plant products, fibers, meat and other foods, and skins and furs.(3)Scientific value: By studying wildlife, scientists have gained valuable knowledge about various life processes and discovered important medical product (4) Survival value: Wildlife helps in maintaining the balanced living systems of earth, which consequently ensures survival of life. All these four main reasons are encompassed in the environmental teachings of Islam to preserve and boost up the Wild Life population in the universe. Almighty Allah has created the universe and beautified it with the Mountains peaks and forests then make the same the habitat of wild animals. The Qur'an states that man has dominion over animals: "He (God) it is Who made you vicegerents on earth." (Qur'an 35:39), but makes clear that this responsibility is not unconditional and states what happens to those who misuse their freedom of choice and fail to conform to the conditions that limit this responsibility: "then We reduce him (to the status of) the lowest of the low." (Qur'an 95:4, 5) "…they are those whom Allah has rejected and whom He has condemned….because they served evil" (Qur'an 5:63). "…they have hearts wherewith they fail to comprehend, and eyes wherewith they fail to see, and ears wherewith they fail to hear….Such (humans) is far astray from the right path. (Qur'an 7:179).So the Quran allowed man to be benefited economically from the animals but under limits and according to Quranic orders. Zoo officials who keep animals confined in limited space do not consider the ‘agony ‘of the animal. A clue can be taken from this prophetic message’ it is a great sin for man to imprison those animals which are in his power’ (Muslim).Even non-Muslim environmental ethicists like, R.P Misra adheres the Islamic bio ethical theme and states that justice, indeed is one of the corner stones of the Muslim religion, since environmental abuse or destruction is more often a form of injustice. Since Islam stresses the moral importance of knowledge no less than justice, being truly elements of the environmental ethics with universal implications, Islamic methods to conserve wildlife are fruitful and sustainable as evident from the glimpses of Islamic history
To promote environmental especially wildlife awareness among the people, the Indian government has started various natural projects and programs such as Project Tiger (formed in 1972 and launched on the 1st April 1973 at Corbett National Park), Project Elephant (a centrally sponsored scheme, was launched in February 1992 to provide financial and technical support to major elephant bearing states in India for protection of elephants, their habitats and corridors),Besides this ,there are also various NGOs working on wildlife conservation in India, how much these Projects and NGO’s are successful in protecting the Wild life can be notices by the fact that between a quarter and a third of the world's wildlife has been lost since 1970, according to data compiled by the Zoological Society of London Populations of land-based species fell by 25%, marine by 28% and freshwater by 29%, it says. Humans are wiping out about 1% of all other species every year, and one of the "great extinction episodes" in the Earth's history is under way, it says. Pollution, farming and urban expansion, over-fishing and hunting are blamed. In India where Wild Life week is celebrated by high pomp and show, the National Animal ‘Tiger’ and National Bird ‘Peacock’ is on the verge of extinction,moreover other animals such as elephants, musk deer, Tibetan antelope, rhinoceros, red panda, Ganges river dolphin, etc., without getting proper care are getting endangered.
In these circumstances when so-called conservationists and self-centered NGo’s keep there eye on their own benefits rather than conserving the Wild Life in actuality, then the moral and religious application are meaningful. when the mass awareness programmes and observance of days and weeks in the name conserving the natural and wild life gets useless then the Natural, religious ways and methods becomes the only viable and feasible option to conserve the same, which proved, proves and is proving useful and effective. It is the need of time to prefer Religious and Bio-ethical methods of conserving the natural wild life rather than using conventional and unplanned methods, which proved, and are proving ineffectual as surveyed by the international and nation wild life Forums and Societies. If people are to awaken to the challenges of preserving the wild life and its habitat, modern wild life conservationists and scholars must illuminate the ecological and wild life conservative principles of the Qur'an as they apply to contemporary environmental and wild life related issues. The world now is undoubtedly more complex than it was a thousand years ago when the industrial revolution had not taken place and the earth's resources had not been strained. The point, however, is that human laws are time bound, while divine guidance is timeless. "Corruption has appeared on land and sea as an outcome of what men's hands have wrought: and so He will let them taste the evil of some of their doings, so that they might return to the right path. " states a Quranic verse (30:4 1), implying that destruction of the natural environment follows from immoral and unethical use of natural resources, which can only be addressed by natural and bio-ethical methods laid down by Islam. The wild Life consciousness and care in Islam is reflected from One of the familiar instances of life of the Prophet when, during a journey, one of companions (SUHABA) removed a baby pigeon from a nest. Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) confronted and gently returned the bird to its nest. "For charity shown to each creature with a wet heart, there is a reward," the Prophet declared. Let us hope a day will dawn of the great religious teachings may begin, when we shall see the start of a new era, when man accords to wild life the respect and status they deserve and for so long have been denied.

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