Like most mosques, Daar Ul-Islam offers free iftar — or fast-breaking — meals for as many as 300 people each night during Ramadan. This year, the mosque has aimed to go zero waste.
“It feels like a form of worship,” said Aamna Anwer, who co-founded the sustainability committee at Daar Ul-Islam. “In holy scripture, we are told to ‘live gently on the Earth.’ Sustainability is literally diverting methane and trash from the Earth.”
Anwer is also the sustainability coordinator at Washington University in St. Louis, where she works to integrate sustainability practices into all of the university’s operations. For her, sustainability practices are essential in her professional and personal life.
Anwer and her spouse led a sustainability initiative at Daar Ul-Islam for two years before it was adopted as an official committee in 2020. Before the pandemic, they focused primarily on community-based projects, such as monthly sustainability education sessions and maintaining a community garden. They also discouraged use of plastic water bottles at the mosque, which continues to remain a priority.
Now, the sustainability committee is working to effect more substantial changes at the mosque, such as this year’s effort to eliminate food waste during the month of Ramadan. The committee works with New Earth Farm to compost everything after iftar dinners, including single-use food containers and cutlery.
Daar Ul-Islam is one of the biggest mosques in the St. Louis region and is part of the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis. Should Daar Ul-Islam continue to codify sustainability efforts, Anwer hopes other mosques in the region will follow suit.
Hear more about the sustainability efforts at Daar Ul-Islam by listening to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast or Stitcher or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Avery Rogers is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
