How I miss the missing trees, and the green spaces where we grazed our goats. Today, many cities are turning into veritable deserts: that’s the sort of life we are living in the name of being ‘civilized’.
As urbanisation spreads, trees are mercilessly cut down. In antiquity, in contrast, trees were loved, treasured and saved. It was a common practice in the past for people to plant trees near their homes. But as cities expand and available space contracts and land prices go up, how many people can afford to do that or even care to think of it?
There is a Divine logic behind the existence of everything in this world, including trees. Trees perform numerous functions in the eco-system, including producing food through photosynthesis and emitting oxygen, which we need to breathe. In the Quran, the word “shajr”, meaning tree, has been used in many places. Several types of trees are mentioned in the Quran. By reflecting on trees we can find out God, the Almighty.
I recall in my childhood, when we played in the summer and got exhausted, with sweat running down our foreheads and we would rest under a tree. On my way to the madrasa, I would spot some trees, and on a few occasions I rested under them but now they have been chopped down. Just in front of my house, there was a pool surrounded with some trees, where people, including children and women, gathered and spent a long time chatting.
How I miss the missing trees, and the green spaces where we grazed our goats. Today, many cities are turning into veritable deserts: that’s the sort of life we are living in the name of being ‘civilized’.
Planting a tree is a charity which can benefit one even after death. Needless to say, it can benefit others too by sending out oxygen into the atmosphere, by sharing fruits and flowers and by being a home to birds, squirrels, ants and other beings.
(The writer can be reached at [email protected])
COMMENTS