Jenkins writes: "The authors demanded that wealthy nations phase out their use of fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy systems, as well as lend aid to impoverished communities currently suffering from the harsh impacts of climate change - including parts of the world densely populated by Muslims."

Prominent Muslim leaders are taking a stand for the environment. (photo: Shutterstock.com)

Islamic Leaders Call for Phasing Out Global Fossil Fuels

By Jack Jenkins, ThinkProgress

19 August 15

slamic leaders from 20 countries have unveiled a sweeping new declaration on climate change, calling on their fellow Muslims to care for the planet and asking world leaders to phase out their use of fossil fuels.

On Tuesday, attendees at International Islamic Climate Change Symposium concluded their two-day summit in Istanbul, Turkey by issuing a formal declaration on global environmental issues. The declaration � which was clear to stipulate that climate change is both real and �human induced� � was equal parts theological and scientific, using an Islamic moral lens to insist that world leaders take immediate action to assist our warming planet.

�Our species, though selected to be a caretaker or steward (khalifah) on the earth, has been the cause of such corruption and devastation on it that we are in danger ending life as we know it on our planet,� the statement read. �Excessive pollution from fossil fuels threatens to destroy the gifts bestowed on us by God, whom we know as Allah �- gifts such as a functioning climate, healthy air to breathe, regular seasons, and living oceans.�

�What will future generations say of us, who leave them a degraded planet as our legacy? How will we face our Lord and Creator?� the authors added.

The statement also made specific recommendations for world leaders who plan to attend the much-anticipated talks on climate change in Paris this December, hosted by the United Nations. The authors demanded that wealthy nations phase out their use of fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy systems, as well as lend aid to impoverished communities currently suffering from the harsh impacts of climate change � including parts of the world densely populated by Muslims.

�We call upon [leaders participating in the Paris talks] � to bring their discussions to an equitable and binding conclusion, bearing in mind � the enormous responsibility the [conference] shoulders on behalf of the rest of humanity, including leading the rest of us to a new way of relating to God�s Earth,� the document read.

The declaration was signed by the assembly�s 60 participants, including prominent Muslim voices such as Shaban Ramadha Mubajje, the grand mufti of Uganda, and Mohamed Ashmawey, head of Islamic Relief Worldwide. In addition, organizers of the conference � Islamic Relief Worldwide, the Islamic Forum for Ecology and Environmental Sciences, and GreenFaith � noted in a press release that the declaration was endorsed by other leaders not at the convening, such as the grand mufti of Lebanon.

�On behalf of the Indonesian Council of Ulema and 210 million Muslims we welcome this Declaration and we are committed to to implementing all recommendations,� Din Syamsuddin, Chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (a body of Muslims scholars), said in a statement.

Organizers also made reference to Pope Francis� recent encyclical on the environment, a nod to the fast-growing multi-faith movement to address climate change. Religious groups from all sides of the theological spectrum have been mobilizing to address environmental issues this year, partly due to the pope�s advocacy, and partly due to longstanding support for the environment among people of faith.

�It is with great joy and in a spirit of solidarity that I express to you the promise of the Catholic Church to pray for the success of your initiative and her desire to work with you in the future to care for our common home and thus to glorify the God who created us,� Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said of the Islamic declaration.

But while the symposium�s statement was geared towards high-level world leaders, it also included a clarion call for Muslims of all walks of life to tackle climate change in their daily lives.

�We call on all Muslims wherever they may be � to tackle habits, mindsets, and the root causes of climate change, environmental degradation and the loss of biodiversity in their particular spheres of influence, following the example of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and bring about a resolution to the challenges that now face us,� the document read.

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+58 # jlohman 2012-04-26 09:29

Maybe we could get our troops out of countries where they do not belong, and shut the TSA down! But oh, the defense industry wouldn't like that and they fund the politicians!

-6 # John Locke 2012-04-26 17:34

There is a solution, But no one wants to hear it...STOP FLYING! drive where you are going!

+4 # Rick Levy 2012-04-26 19:56

Quoting John Locke:

There is a solution, But no one wants to hear it...STOP FLYING! drive where you are going!

That's a neat trick if you're going abroad.

-6 # John Locke 2012-04-27 10:00

Simple: Don't go abroad!

+3 # tingletlc 2012-04-27 11:56

Unless to defect.

+3 # Billy Bob 2012-04-27 08:14

I don't know why you got thumbs down for that. In fact, it's the only solution. If people aren't willing to bite that bullet, all the complaining in the world is a big fat waste of time and hot air.

-1 # John Locke 2012-04-27 10:01

Billy I can tell you why...it is common sense, thats what is missing here...

+2 # Capn Canard 2012-04-28 12:52

John Locke, I will disagree, it isn't common sense that is missing, it is GOOD sense.

-1 # Capn Canard 2012-04-28 12:50

John Locke, good comment, it is the only sure fire way. Hard to understand why people give you a thumbs down.

+77 # nirmalandhas 2012-04-26 09:35

All TSA officers should be screened for mental disorders...

+45 # burner 2012-04-26 09:53

The TSA officers will one day learn how they were duped with all these 'terrorist' and security details, just so the govt could pass more controls, someone look up about the shoe bomber who was not allowed on the airplane in holland but then a US govt official intervened and accompanied him to the plane and past security; this was witnessed by a prominent lawyer from Michigan who was brave enough to speak up. I agree that these TSA officers are mentally deficient and just trying to show their 'power'.

+60 # Dion Giles 2012-04-26 10:11

I was checked at LAX not long after someone had tried to explode a bomb in a shoe on an aircraft, and there was heightened alert. None the less I was treated with good humour and respect while they made sure there was nothing funny about my shoes. America has strong democratic traditions and it was bound to take time for full-fledged fascism to be built up after September 2001. From Bradmeyer's story and many other similar events, normal airport security has evolved into gratuitous bullying by human garbage, and the fascist plague has spread like a runaway infection to engulf the USA and even spill into the rest of the world. This, along with colonial wars, appears to have been the objective of the false flag atrocity at the Twin Towers. Airports like Wichita really need picketing with demands for bullies to be fired and travellers to be respected.

+31 # Adoregon 2012-04-26 11:15

This is so far beyond the pale as to be surreal. If U.S. citizens had any guts at all they would rise up in protest at such an affront.

Power corrupts... Czech this:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110920121608.htm

+30 # Billy Bob 2012-04-26 11:21

These people are out of control and need to be reigned in.

+46 # RMDC 2012-04-26 11:23

This can't be about security or keeping anyone safe from terrorism. This is about training the american people to submit to every sort of intimidation and humiliation that the government wishes to give it. It is about making people afraid of the government. If they speak out or show any resistance, the TSA will increase it control and hostile treatment. You have to be quiet, cooperative, and silent in order to make them go away.

Too bad that we don't have any leaders in congress who would put a stop to the TSA by legislation and defunding. We don't need any TSA. As things exist now, any terrorist who really wanted to bomb a plane still could. TSA is only about harrassing, terrorizing, and intimidating ordinary americans or foreign travellers. A real terrorist could get around them with very little problem.

Why do our elected officials allow this to continue. They should all be voted out in 2012.

+10 # Billy Bob 2012-04-26 18:13

I agree with everything you said except the last sentence. What makes you think firing every elected representative wouldn't mean they'd be replaced with someone worse?

0 # RMDC 2012-04-27 04:24

Billy Bob -- you are probably right but it is just so hard to imagine someone worse. I'm having trouble these days imagining someone worse than Obama. I know Romney is worse than Obama but I just cannot reward Obama with another vote for his bad performance.

-7 # John Locke 2012-04-27 10:03

RMDC: exactly the point! and we don't really know if Romney will be worse!

+2 # Capn Canard 2012-04-28 12:54

It hasn't gotten so twisted that it looks like something from Terry Gilliam's "Brazil".

+27 # jwb110 2012-04-26 11:35

If someone said that they would shut down the entire airport if my daughter was not restrained, I fear I would have called their bluff. There may be a child molestation suit here. Even in a DOctors office there are rules regarding female patients being unattended with only a male doctor in the room. A Nurse should be in attendance. No child should be unsupervised while being patted down by any agent if a parent is present.

+22 # Richard Miller 2012-04-26 11:39

I never did trust little girls....they grow up to be big girl and head organizations like the Dept of Homeland Security.
This woman is from my state and if it was my grand daughter, one of these fat ass TSA Employees would have ended up in a trash bin. We don't treat our children as terrorists in Montana. And we do not expect it from any other state.

+13 # Glen 2012-04-26 13:54

Quite right, Richard. I'd be willing to go to jail to put an end to such treatment of children.

+6 # Billy Bob 2012-04-26 18:14

If you want to enter a plane they'll take you up on your offer.

The best thing we can do is boycott air travel. The airline industry can't survive on business travel alone.

+2 # John Locke 2012-04-27 10:05

Billy: that is a very astute comment! Bravo to you!

I don't fly anywhere now, I drive if it takes me a week to get there...

+27 # qasee 2012-04-26 11:57

'The TSA says its officers followed proper procedures'; Right, on how to be a wacko pedophile.

+9 # Billy Bob 2012-04-26 18:15

Time to get rid of the procedure, huh?

+12 # humactdoc 2012-04-26 12:02

The TSA does not hire for good judgement and critical thinking skills. My experience with many front line TSA employees is that they memorize the rules and apply them without critical thinking, i.e. they are robots. But, I have also dealt with some supervisors that have and exercise common-sense judgement.

+3 # Billy Bob 2012-04-26 18:15

Good cop / Bad cop.

+1 # John Locke 2012-04-27 10:11

humactdoc: Look granted we need security at the airports but they have the means of doing that without the physical pat downs... I mean get real explosives can be seen even in underwear today... and they can see through walls... certainly a physical pat down today is unnecessary!

but it has also been going on in the court systems now for years and there are no pat downs there!

+15 # Regina 2012-04-26 13:07

Why is it that employment in TSA attracts such vicious people as those who terrorized a 4 year old girl? Why does the management in TSA hire such cretins? What training do they get in people skills, separate from their procedural details? TSA is a federal outfit and we're paying for these creeps!!!!!

+11 # Billy Bob 2012-04-26 18:16

That kind of job will only attract that kind of person. Plain and simple.

+4 # John Locke 2012-04-27 10:12

Just like law enforcement attracts a certain type of person...thise that will follow orders

-9 # fbacher 2012-04-26 14:37

The TSA has a difficult job to do and the procedures they follow are prescribed to them. They have a lousy job.

The question for us, is all of this really making us safer? Are porno scanners useful when you can shove a weapon up a secret, undisclosed body cavity like drug runners do?

+1 # John Locke 2012-04-27 10:14

fbacher are you suggesting a more invasive screening of passangers to inspect those body cavities?

+15 # Anarchist 23 2012-04-26 16:08

Dominate, Intimidate, Control-isn't that the new slogan for Homeland Security? 911,911,911-if the people would just wake up and look at the physics of the thing-jet fuel does NOT burn 'twice as hot as nuclear fuel'-it is jet-grade-i.e. purified kerosene-a hydro-carbon-if it could melt the steel in the Twin towers in less than 2 hours-why did steel workers need blast furnaces? Why did Giuliani have to send the conveniently broken to 20 foot lengths of steel from the Twin Towers to China and their blast furnaces? Either look at 911 Truth or enjoy your police state because the 911 Myth is the sole reason that you are undergoing this vilification with its abolition of your Bill of Rights!!

+2 # Capn Canard 2012-04-28 12:56

Anarchist 23, stop making sense...

+24 # Richard1908 2012-04-26 17:43

I have made this comment before, but people like me in countries other than America can hardly believe the grotesque nature of so much of your so-called security. Why are Americans accepting of this police-state behaviour? And has your country gone stark raving mad?

+10 # disgusted American 2012-04-26 21:56

Richard1908,

Americans are a complacent lot. Some like to rant and rave on blogs but don't get involved past that, but most are totally clueless or willfully ignorant.

Airports I've passed through in Europe don't do any of this. You put your stuff in the tray and pick it up after if goes through the xray thingy and that's it. And you don't have to remove your shoes and walk on filthy, unsanitary floors and then put the shoes back on.

Only in Amerika. Teaching people to line up, take orders and keep their mouths shut.

Get a good look at the attitude of the TSA jerk in the photo above. Wouldn't you love to slap this creep's face?

+5 # Regina 2012-04-26 23:38

Yes, stark raving mad. It's the Republican syndrome.

-1 # John Locke 2012-04-27 10:16

Regina I thought Obama was a Democrat. This is all happening under his watch...

+11 # CTPatriot 2012-04-27 03:24

To answer your question, see Germany Circa 1933 and read the book, "and they thought they were free".

You might also read "1984" by George Orwell. I'm pretty sure that is the instruction book that has been used since at least 2000 here in Amerika.

0 # Daniel1 2012-04-26 22:02

I have flown in and out of hundreds of airports all over this country (I have been in every state at least once and in more then 30 of the more then once) and I have never been groped nor treated rudely in any way. Now that is not to say that this does not happen. but once you show that you are willing to work with them to a point, they dont become defensive and in fact most of them are quite friendly. The bad apples like in the above story need to be removed ASAP but for the ones that try and do their jobs in a professional manner, they should be thanked.

+1 # Vermont Grandma 2012-04-27 21:51

I too have been fortunate in flying out of US airports. However, my good fortune doesn't mean that children and elders are being maltreated by TSA personnel all across the country. Of course a 4-year-old in an unfamiliar location who is treated rudely and aggressively after running to give her grandmother a hug will CRY, and be frightened. Any TSA employee who doesn't understand that shouldn't be doing this kind of job. Nor does this kind of conduct lead to children being confident that people in uniforms are likely to be helpful. Bad practice by TSA staff means our policemen and women have a harder job down the line...

-10 # MiddleAmericaMS 2012-04-26 22:10

This seems really overblown. Terrorize? Really?

So anytime an adult tries to control a child is that terrorizing the child too?

Come on RSN, you're better than this.

-5 # linda155 2012-04-27 08:37

Dumb observation -- the child was told to wait with her grandmother. Why didn't her grandmother comfort her and explain the situation to her? Why did the grandmother allow the situation to get out of control?

+3 # Vermont Grandma 2012-04-27 21:56

Excuse me! This piece doesn't say that the child was told to wait with her grandmother, but rather that she must sit down and be re-screened following her brief contact with her grandmother. There's no indication that the grandmother was allowed by TSA to do anything relating to the 4-year-old. Clearly the TSA personnel could have simply and calmly spoken with the little girl, drawn her mom over, and kindly asked her to go through the metal detector again. Problem solved, no one traumatized, no child screaming. It was not the grandmother who ALLOWED the situation to get out of control, but TSA personnel who were immediately out of line and out of control. For someone to threaten to shut down an airport if a parent is unable to get their traumatized 4-year-old under control, they've really lost all sense of perspective. And are demonstrating that they haven't the slightest ounce of creativity in dealing with little ones.

+2 # Michael_K 2012-04-27 11:42

I suspect that "the consent of the governed" is about to be very dramatically withdrawn very soon!

If I were Janet or one of her goons, I'd be busy planning my exile/political asylum in some country with no extradition agreements.

+5 # Not_a_Dim_or_Rethug 2012-04-27 11:47

"Brademeyer said she has filed an official complaint about the incident, and TSA said any complaint would be followed up by a customer service representative, who would give Brademeyer a response."

Customer service representative? A customer is one who VOLUNTARILY engages in a transaction, usually monetary, for a good or service. Fliers are not "customers", they are victims of TSA. More 1984 Speak from our fascist government.

(Note to NSA snoop reading this: Fuck you. Get a Life.)

+3 # Michael_K 2012-04-27 12:00

Quite right. Occupation armies don't have "customers".

+5 # Michael_K 2012-04-27 11:49

BTW... I hope you all realise that NONE of this TSA nonsense has anything WHATSOEVER to do with combating terrorism. It's a very cynical ploy to exploit people's fears. Fears promoted by governmental exaggeration and hystrionics. No self-respecting terrorist "pro" wohld stand on line for TSA screening. Not unless they planned to take advantage of the prodigiously expanded killing field provided by the TSA, right there, accumulating several plane loads of victims bottle-necked in the main hall, BEFORE security!

0 # colvictoria 2012-04-28 19:52

This makes my blood boil! This whole thing with the TSA is a complete joke. 911 was an inside job and there is plenty of proof out there by architects and engineers in the 911 truth movement. The Pentagon and the MIC were all involved and I am sure the sole purpose of the attack is to have the American people on board to go in and start a war in the Middle East. I don't believe for one minute there were any terrorists or any planes. Very clever of the Pentagon to drop intact supposed foreign passports of these "terrorists" onto the ground where nothing else seemed to survive.
I agree with other posts here. Drive,take the Amtrak, or take a Greyhound bus if you have to travel. Do not submit to these horrendous invasive, mind control, fear instilling practices.

-1 # Daniel1 2012-04-29 15:09

Puh-leaze, the 9-11 "truth" movement has been discredited so badly that they dont even admit to existing anymore. And how strong were they beliefs that the most ardent supporters were Van Jones (a disgraced former member of Obamas administration) Jesse Ventura (a former wrestler and Gov who himself became disgraced when he claimed to be in combat with the Seals, and yet his DD-214 and his military history folder clearly shows that he never left the US, so who was he in combat with?) and Alex Jones, a disgraced "scare pimp" who claims that there are FEMA prison camps all over the US and under what used to be Ft. Ben Harrison in Indianapolis In, a place that now has factories and apartment buildings and sewer/water lines going well over 300 feet into the ground with no evidence of any POW camp. Again how strong can your "inside job" beliefs be when Popular Mechanics completely destroyed your argument in one report. My MOS was demolitions in the Military and I know for a fact that I dont have to destroy a metal beamby explosives to bring it down as you claim, all I need do is heat it and it loses rigidity and strength. The weigh of the upper floors does the rest. And they found parts of the WTC well over 15 blocks away so building 7 was well within the path of the majority of it. Not to mention the video tapes from the gas station across from the Pentagon have been released and they clearly show a plane impacting. Busted for the umteenth time.

0 # RICHARDKANEpa 2012-04-29 06:43

Attn: Covictoria, 9/11 was an inside job only to the extent that Cheney was part of a fallout shelter drill that morning and lied about where he was. And previously CIA agents who did their jobs right were demoted not advanced. There are many terrorists attacks around the world including the blowing up of top CIA officials by a terrorist whose cover was turning in al Qaeda members earlier to be killed by the US. Al Qaeda's goal for the US is to hasten bankruptcy thus corporate headquarters of contractors are never touched unlike US embassies. Al Qaeda doesn't want anything that would lead to a US draft because it is a cheaper way to fight. The sadist fact is that if the US did something to lessen greatly the march toward bankruptcy al Qaeda would try to make the US spend money like water again.

-2 # RICHARDKANEpa 2012-04-29 07:52

If you googles "year old terrorist" one will find sites as young as five. Al Qaeda however is interested in bankrupting the US encouraging us to spend money like water. Embassies are targets but not corporate headquarters of contractor firms And al Qaeda does want to scare the US into a draft a cheaper way to fight

-4 # RICHARDKANEpa 2012-04-29 08:27

A Qaeda trains kids as young as five as terrorists, remotely detonated terrorists include many who are mentality and physically changed.

One bit of good news is only the US likes football not soccer, so our football stadiums haven't been suggest to attack like a group of people watching a TV screen in Pakistan

+1 # colvictoria 2012-04-29 19:44

@RichardKanepa our US history clearly demonstrates how it has treated children. How many Native American babies slaughtered in all its wars against Natives? What of the African children who died on those slave ships on their way to the colonies? How about all of those children who died in the US war against Mexico? Do I need to go on with Vietnam, Korea,
Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, all wars in South America,current ly the Mid East, Libya, Sudan, Congo etc.....
Our infant mortality rate is nothing to brag about. Last I heard we were right next to Poland's. How about pedophilia running rampant as well as missing children and kids being sold into sexual slavery?
How about how we treat children with "behavior problems"?let's just drug them to death why don't we? Let's just dumb down all of those poor Black and Brown kids who attend public school by vaccinating them with toxic chemicals that ruin their developing brains. Let's feed them USDA food laced with MSG, hydrogenated fat, high fructose corn syrup & pink slime so they become obese and develop diabetes. Let's bring crack cocaine and heroine into our neighborhoods along with the guns so kids can kill each other and end up as part of the PIC. I hear private prisons are raking in the profits. Since there are no jobs lets have our kids join the MIC and come back in body bags after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Al Q v/s USA on how it treats children? I'd say they are both atrocious!

-4 # RICHARDKANEpa 2012-04-29 09:03

Quoting Adoregon:

This is so far beyond the pale as to be surreal. If U.S. citizens had any guts at all they would rise up in protest at such an affront.

Power corrupts... Czech this:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110920121608.htm

Adoregon,

I am glad you did some research . However research Al Qaeda trains children as young as five as suicide bombers, and also remotely designated suicide bombers that includes the mentally and physically challenge, Actually I was amazed by the number.

+1 # Adoregon 2012-04-29 12:10

I did Google: Al Qaeda trains children as young as five as suicide bombers

To exploit children like that is beyond imagining to most people. To screen for children packing explosives shouldn't be too difficult given the technology in use at U.S. airports. With their small body mass, any anomalies should show up.

However, the TSA needs to use some discretion as does Israeli security . Terrifying innocent children (in the name of security)is hardly better than corrupting innocent children to unwittingly perform hideous acts.

The crushing irony in all of this is how 9/11 and its fallout has resulted in an increase in fear and a loss of privacy and freedom. The fact that the actions of the (not "our") corporate controlled government has provoked peoples without sophisticated military technology to strike out at us as a society is never discussed. Creating and exacerbating a situation like this is a set-up to give free rein to global surveillance and repression.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism
or
http://essays.ssrc.org/10yearsafter911/the-psychology-of-terrorism/

Now think Dresden.

And so it goes.

-2 # RICHARDKANEpa 2012-04-29 22:30

-2 # RICHARDKANEpa 2012-04-30 08:05

I got a flash of insight. Al Qaeda is so confident of US bankruptcy that it doesn't want to waist bombs on us, The underpants bomber was small change worth of explosives, and I just realized by using a dud they didn't even have to sacrifice the death of one reciter since the underpants bomber just sacrificed his I don't dare try to use a dirty word again on this blog.

0 # carolsj 2012-04-30 17:30

There are some things left out of this story that would clarify exactly what was going on. Why did Grandma set off the alarms? Was she actually carrying something that did it? Was racial or ethnic profiling involved? Are grandmas and little kids routinely considered terrorism suspects? There was no teddy bear. Where did they think the kid hid a gun? The whole thing is unbelievable. Maybe the agents were bored. Not enough real terrorists around.

0 # RICHARDKANEpa 2012-05-02 09:52

Again Google suicide bomber with every ago starting with five and every sect of Islam except Sunni with Al Qaeda suicide bomber and with the word soccer.

Were the celebrants with knives and sticks celebrating a soccer match in Egypt al Qaeda in Disguise?

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