“Avoid Plastic, Plant Trees”, Men of God Now Preach in Mosques

Mosques across Afghanistan are delivering messages on climate and environmental issues during prayers, encouraging worshippers to take measures in their everyday lives, from reducing waste to planting trees.

“It is a common lesson of moral and Islamic teachings not to create extra and hazardous waste in public places and water bodies, be it plastic, bottles or whatever,” says Mawlawi Obaid Ullah, imam of a mosque in Kabul, to the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “I teach people to the best of my knowledge on being responsible and sensible.”

The environmental sermons were encouraged by Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), after they signed a deal with the Ministry of Haj and Religious Affairs last year, where they agreed that religious leaders should address climate change and other environmental issues during prayers. Since then, around 5,000 mosques across the nation have delivered approximately 33,000 sermons on such issues, which a senior adviser at NEPA dubbed as “one of our most successful initiatives in spreading awareness”.