What is the environmental cleaning in islam? What does islam say about clean environment?
Since man is a social being, he has to live together with other people. This brings along various rights and responsibilities towards them.
As he/she pays attention to the purity of his/her soul and body, a Muslim also pays utmost attention to the cleanliness of his house, street and surroundings. Because environmental cleanliness is an issue that concerns not only ourselves but also others. Polluting the environment means disturbing and harming other people. However, a Muslim is someone who does not harm others and does not hurt any living thing.
Keeping our environment clean is very important both for our own health and for the health of others.
A Muslim’s house and other places should be neat and orderly, as if the Messenger of Allah -upon him blessings and peace- would come to visit him in the evening or in the morning.
By commanding us: “Clean your courtyards”, Allah Messenger -upon him blessings and peace- stated that the surroundings of our houses should also be cleaned.
The Prophet -upon him blessings and peace- said:
“Beware of being of those who have been cursed.”
Thereupon, the Companions -May Allah be well-pleased with them- asked:
“Who are they? O Messenger of Allah?” our Prophet responded:
“They are the ones who pollute the way people come and go and the places where they are shaded.”
It is incompatible with Islamic ethics to disturb others by polluting the roads where people come and go, the places where they sit and rest.
When it comes to the masjid or mosque, shoes and slippers should not be left around, but rather they should be placed in a suitable place so as not to be an obstacle on people’s way and disturb anyone.
Muslims houses should always be kept extremely clean. They take off their shoes at the door and never go inside with their shoes on. Everywhere in their houses is enough to perform prayer.
Our Prophet was the cleanest of people in terms of environmental cleanliness as well as body and clothing. As much as he cared about his own cleanliness and elegance, he wanted others to look clean, elegant and beautiful.
The Prophet was also very sensitive to environmental cleanliness. One day, he was going to attend an invitation with his companions. While walking on the road, he removed from the road the objects such as stones, trees, thorns that could trip people’s feet and harm them and threw them aside. At the same time, he continued to chat with his companions. (Muslim, Iman, 58) At the time, the Prophet saw a man passing by, spitting on the street. This image seemed very ugly to him. His facial expression changed. He did not like this at all.
Our Prophet -upon him blessings and peace- wanted to clean this saliva himself so that other people would not be disturbed. However, his companions, who loved the Messenger of Allah very much and followed him carefully, understood that he was troubled and saddened by this. One of them immediately acted and covered this spittle by covering with dust.
When this unpleasant situation was resolved, the Prophet began to smile again and said:
“A Muslim should not harm his environment with his actions. As much as giving importance to the cleanliness of the body and the environment, he should also pay attention to the cleanliness of his inner world, that is, of his heart. When a servant commits a sinful deed, a black spot appears on his heart. If he does not repent and continues to commit this sin, the number of black dots increases and cover his whole heart. As if that person’s heart gets rusted.
While a man was walking along the road, a thorny branch, or bush, came across in front of him. He did not want another passer-by to get entangled in the bush and get hurt, so he picked it up and threw it aside. Allah, the Exalted, was very pleased with his behavior and forgave his past sins. (Bukhari, Mazalim, 28; Muslim, Birr, 128) In this respect, removing sharp things that can harm people, or things like garbage that would disturb the eyes and hearts of people of the way, is a charity that Allah will reward. (Bukhari, Jihad, 72; Muslim, Musafirin, 84)
Source; Islamic Etiquette, Faruk KANGER – Lokman HELVACI, Erkam Publications
Good Manners Towards Allah Almighty
Good Manners Towards Our Prophet
