You are invited to attend an upcoming event for Sisters only
Sisters for Sustainability – Caring for the Environment and Health
Speaker
Sofia Zolghadriha.
Date
Saturday 28th May 2022.
Time:
1.30pm to 3pm.
Cost:
Free
The workshop is for sisters to teach them the Islamic values through sustainable food practices. Our aim is to encourage the spirit of environmentalism from the religious perspective. To encourage the women to take responsibility for their behaviour especially as it is often the woman who shapes the consumption of the household. In the workshop, we will introduce briefly about (Tibb) medicine and explain how sustainable food behaviour is linked to our individual health, for example, how critical it is to eat seasonal produce, as non-seasonal and non-local produce can cause disturbances in the body.
Following this, we will do a demonstration by showing different produce (vegetables, fruits), asking the participants if they can identify where they have been grown. This is to raise awareness of the nature we live in and understanding what grows in the UK. Usually this is followed by a discussion with participants about different foods and methods that can help us make the right local choices.
We then turn the conversation to waste management, and give an overview of how devastating the current waste situation is in the world, especially concerning plastics. We demonstrate how to manage household waste and use recycling with different common household items.
The overall aim is to get the sisters interested and engaged in the movement, and therefore the atmosphere should be relaxed and casual, so as to encourage sisters to attend again, as it is an opportunity for them to meet each other socially and interact with other sisters while doing something beneficial for the community.
If you are interested in attending, please register your details using the form below.
Online Registration
Who is Sofia Zolghadriha (Click to learn more..)
I started The Dayereh organisation in 2021 as a community engagement project for environmental awareness and sustainability. My vision is to engage the Muslim/faith communities to become environmentally conscious and engage in climate matters. I believe Muslims (and people of faith) have the most potential to be positive drivers of change when it comes to the climate issue facing our city, and planet, today. This is because we as Muslims and people of faith have a moral obligation to nature and earth, whereas secular society has used nature as a mechanical entity, which has brought us to our troubles today.
Mainstream environmentalism has not worked so far in solving the threat of environmental destruction. As the philosopher Seyed Hossein Nasr has argued, it is because of its secular nature, which offers no more than a mechanical vision of the universe and offers no transcendent rationale for the transformation of the soul necessary for decisive change in human behaviour to avoid the continued worsening of the environmental crisis. At the base of the secular environmentalist, his behaviour is purely practical. We need to revive spiritual or religious values to environmentalism. The crisis we see today is driven by the modern economic system appealing to human greed and passions, to serve false needs that we have created, and this has caused a ripple effect not just seen in the destruction of our environment, but just as much, reflected within us, our spirits, families and community. I believe that bringing the connection back to nature will start healing each of these, slowly but sustainably. Our external environment reflects our internal state, and one cannot find a state of peace and balance without the other.
Besides working on this project, I am a student of Unani Tibb medicine, which is the Perso-Arabic system of medicine practiced in the Muslim culture. Therefore, I am passionate about bringing awareness to the connection between our health (mind/body/spirit) and the environment. We cannot expect to have healthy and balanced minds when we consume foods that cause disturbance to this, when we have complete disregard for the nature around us, when we ingest harmful substances hiding in our foods, and when we have a created barrier between us and the natural world. All these factors cause disturbances to our body, mind and spirit, exacerbating health issues, both physical and mental.
What we call the “Tibb life” is the sustainable lifestyle which I am passionate about advocating, for people to start incorporating into their lives. A traditional Afghan or Indian village was, and to some extent still is, in harmony with its natural surroundings; it could continue its life in this manner for as far as one can project into the future; it is completely sustainable. It follows a slower lifestyle, where each person is intertwined with the cycle of nature.
In Tibb, we consume seasonal and local produce, because this is the healthiest for us, and in accordance with the Holy Quran. We use natural and wholesome foods and products as much we possible. We incorporate Prophetic foods daily because these are like medicines for us. We eat according to our traditional customs, because we know it has wisdom and is meant for us. We spend time together preparing our foods, because this has blessings for us. We do not waste, or we manage our waste so that it does not cause harm to earth. We are grateful for everything that is given to us, and we treat it with utmost respect; each vessel and container of food has been taken from the earth of the Almighty, and we should treat it with gentle care as everything will return to the Creator just as we ourselves will. My purpose is to deliver this message as far and wide as I can, and to encourage my community with practices, because I believe in a more harmonious and beautiful ummah for all of us.
I have experience with environmental education and community engagement work, having done similar projects in different countries, such as the rural Philippines and China. I also have work experience with Islamic Relief Worldwide, and have worked with NGOs in the past.
