The breaking of the Ramadan fast, the iftar meal, has become more than just an accepted part of our country’s calendar, it is celebrated as part of our British identity. But for many Muslims organising these events, they are starting to question how their positive actions of bringing communities together may be impacting negatively on the planet.
Muslims believe all humans should act as guardians of the planet. This Islamic concept of stewardship is a powerful and important one, in particular as many Muslim majority countries bear the brunt of climate change.
In 1970 the now King warned about the dangers of plastic waste highlighting that “we are faced at this moment with the horrifying effects of pollution in all its cancerous forms.” More recently the Natural History Museum became the first international museum to declare a ‘Planetary Emergency’ — planetary because climate change is just one of the crises we are causing.
Our eating habits, for example, have resulted in livestock making up 60 per cent of the world’s mammals by weight and 71 per cent of the world’s birds are bred for food with an estimated 26 billion chickens on Earth.
It’s therefore fitting that the Naz Legacy Interfaith Youth Iftar, which The King spoke at during their previous virtual iftar, will this year be hosted at the Natural History Museum. The foundation was praised by The Archbishop of Canterbury as being one of the charities which has pioneered interfaith iftars, helping to bring communities together to show we have more in common.
Tonight, more than 100 young people from all faiths and none will be joining the iftar with Sir Patrick Vallance, Cardinal Vincent Nichols and the Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, under “Hope” the whale, to discuss how their beliefs and values shape their relationship and connection with the natural world. The iftar meal will be vegetarian, no single-use plastics will be in use and people will be encouraged to travel via public transport.
Iftars are no longer just a place to bring communities together, they are now places to shape a better future and create advocates for the planet.
Harris Bokhari is a trustee of the Natural History Museum
