As a Muslim, I am sad to say that my faith has been shaken as if hit by a tornado, sending me reeling into outer space, wondering if there is a God or if I am lost, as I have always been in a state of limbo in ignorance. I feel elated sometimes when I pray silently while sitting on my pillows in the wee hours of the morning; I even feel the Divine within me touching my being. However, when my thoughts take flight over the earthly scenario of what is going on in my life as well as in the world, I feel hopeless. I sense that the God in whom I have placed my faith has abandoned humanity, if not me personally. Moreover, I feel my existence is merely to witness humanity's pain and suffering, the planet's decadence, and the demise of species becoming extinct one after another. There is no one to blame, and how can I blame my Maker? After all, He has granted Man free will to choose his own fate.
From my personal observation, Islam is a religion of the afterlife; it seems that life on this earth and time are just a passing phase, borrowed time to prepare mankind for the eternal afterlife. This is acceptable as long as the Earth does not suffer consequences from this transitional or 'transit lounge' mentality that shows little or no care for the temporary space occupied, leaving it worse than when they first arrived. It is akin to a park after being used by a beer-guzzling party of college students. As much as Muslims would deny it, the fate of the environment—the very future of this planet—is of very little concern to them, knowingly or otherwise; it is, after all, a transit lounge. "Dunia ini hak mereka, Akhirat kita punya," a common Malay Muslim saying meaning this world is theirs, ours is the afterlife. "Dunia ini hanya sementara, Akhirat, selamanya," meaning this life is temporary, the hereafter is eternal.
Most religions, including Islam, consider heaven to be located out there somewhere, where one ends up in the afterlife if one is deserving. Having lived in accordance with the dictates of one's faith, one is rewarded with a resting place far removed from this Earth. Thus, my point is that caring for the Earth and its well-being is never and will never be of paramount importance to those who live for the afterlife; it is not their fault, however. I have grown up among people who have a disdainful, if not nonchalant, view of the fate of the environment, just like the beer guzzlers in the park. For these people, there will always be someone else to clean up after them. In Islam, it is said that cleanliness is next to Godliness, but from my personal experience, this is far from the truth in practice. It is not simply a matter of being lazy; it has become a mental state after hundreds of years of believing in the same principle or dogma without a deeper understanding of the ramifications.
Islam is also said to have declared that mankind was created to be the vicegerent or caretakers of this planet, in charge of the whole solar system as well as the unseen. If so, man has failed miserably. Instead of being the caretaker and caregiver, man has become a self-server and ultimately the destroyer of that which he is charged to care for, simply because he has lost his sense of priorities and misunderstood his appointed calling by his Maker. For the religious, the purpose of being here is to live for the afterlife, to live in such a way that when he dies, he enters the Kingdom of Heaven, regardless of having left behind a mess of a planet spiraling out of control due to neglect and wanton disregard for checks and balances. Instead of being the cure and caregiver, man has become the very cancerous virus that is slowly but surely destroying his own habitat—his home.
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