Wednesday, October 10, 2012

An Islamic Environmental Blog Called "Khaleafa"--What Could Be Disturbing About That?

Here's what I find disturbing: the environmental blog defines its name thus:
The term ‘Khaleafa’ is the Arabic term for steward and represents the sacred responsibility that has been bestowed upon us by Allah. The concept of stewardship is the inspiration of this project and has formed for the foundation for discussion of the environmental ideals already present within the Islamic faith. The goal of this website is to reignite the discourse surrounding the Islamic approach to environmentalism and to draw upon the essence of these teachings, emphasizing the movement from a Canadian perspective.
Well, no. Khaleafa is actually a homophone of Khalifa, which is the Arabic term for the rulers who succeeded Islam's founder. Hence, the Khaliphate (or Caliphate), the lands conquered/ruled by the Khalifa on Allah's behalf.

We know that there are power-crazed green types within the global environmental movement who seek to hobble the Western world via climate change alarmism. I could be wrong, but it sounds to me like Khaleafa aims to extend the ambit of Islam (the religion whose official colour is, well, green) in much the same way.

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