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Mapping Islamic Plants to Educate and Connect with the Community’s Culture and Relationship with Earth

Michigan and Wisconsin

Featured image for the project, Mapping Islamic Plants to Educate and Connect with the Community’s Culture and Relationship with Earth

This project seeks to deepen connections between Muslims in Wisconsin and Michigan and the natural world by expanding their ability to recognize and identify culturally important plants. The project team plans to do this through offering training workshops on how to identify plants mentioned in the Qur’an and Hadith, empowering community members to identify these plants in their community, and sharing their contributions on a digital map of plants found in Wisconsin and Michigan gardens and natural areas. By increasing knowledge and awareness of plants, this project will deepen emotional and spiritual connections to the local plant community, inspiring care and protection for the local environment. 

Description

About the Community

The Wisconsin Green Muslims community is spread out across the state, and centers in the state’s largest cities, Madison and Milwaukee.  The community is currently growing to include Muslims in Michigan as well. Community members share a Muslim identity and an interest in the environment. It is a grassroots environmental justice group formed in 2005, intends to educate the Muslim community and the general public about the Islamic environmental justice teachings, to apply these teachings in daily life and to contribute to collaborations and coalitions working toward a just, healthy, peaceful and sustainable future. Currently, Wisconsin Green Muslims and Michigan Green Muslims are focused on creating a community space to teach about plants in the Islamic tradition and enjoy the natural world. Working with Thriving Earth Exchange provides an exciting opportunity to expand people’s awareness in this project and to open opportunities for them to participate directly. 

About the Project 

The community would like to expand local awareness about plants that are mentioned in the Qur’an and Hadith, especially those that can be grown in Wisconsin and Michigan. In order to achieve this goal, the project team plans to engage Muslim community members from across these states in virtual or in-person workshops that teach about these plants, how to grow them, and how they can be identified. Then, these community members will be able to go out and identify these plants in their own communities and submit pictures and data about where the plants are already living. These submissions will then be displayed on a digital storymap to enable the project team to better understand which culturally-relevant plants can be found where we live and to share this information with other members of our community. This storymap will be shared online, including on the Wisconsin Green Muslims, Allen Centennial Garden, Michigan Green Muslims, and Thriving Earth Exchange websites. By increasing the community’s awareness of how to find and grow cultural plants through both workshops and access to the map, this project will deepen the connections between their faith and the natural world, inspiring them to be caretakers of plants and our shared environment. We will also build a community connected to plants that will care for, use, and support this future Islamic Garden space at Allen Centennial Garden. 

Timeline and Milestones

September 2024-January 2025: Project Scoping

January-March 2025: Recruit and onboard scientists/experts. Create data collection protocol and infrastructure 

March-April 2025: Develop workshops to teach people how to identify our key plants and collect data 

April-May 2025: Launch workshops in-person and online 

May- November 2025: Collect data from community members 

November-January 2025: Create storymap/website to share map (2 months)

January-March 2026: Launch public-facing storymap/website and promote

Project Team

Community Leaders

Huda Alkaff is an ecologist, environmental educator, and the founder and director of Wisconsin Green Muslims, a grassroots environmental justice group formed in 2005 connecting faith, environmental justice, sustainability, and healing through education and service. Huda’s higher education degrees are in Conservation Ecology, Sustainable Development, and Science/Environmental Education from the University of Georgia. For over two decades, Huda initiated Muslim and interfaith programs on energy democracy and water equity. Huda works at the Center for Community Stewardship, was a Program Manager at Milwaukee Environmental Consortium and is the Coordinator of Wisconsin Faith Communities for Equitable Solar Initiative that connects with over 10,000 people from 19 different faith traditions, spiritualities and various backgrounds. She recently co-chaired the US Climate Action Network 100% Equitable Renewable Energy Action Team. Huda has received numerous awards for her work including the 2015 White House Champions of Change for Faith Climate Justice Leaders by President Obama. Since 2024, Huda facilitates the Michigan Green Muslims environmental justice group.

Reba Luiken is the director of Allen Centennial Garden where she works as an architect of encounters, creating educational experiences that help deepen connections among people and plants. She holds a Ph.D. in History of Science, Technology, and Medicine as well as bachelor’s degrees in Religious Studies and Plant Biology from the University of Minnesota. Her expertise includes public history, public communication of science, digital humanities, nature journaling, and history of science and religion. She has worked in museums and public gardens including Longwood Gardens, the Minnesota Historical Society, and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for over ten years. 

Community Science Fellow

Mary Patrick holds an MBA in International Business and an undergraduate degree inHuman Resource Management (HRM). With a diverse background as a youth leader, peer educator, system thinker, training assistant, mentor, and coach, Mary brings a wealth of experience to her role. Currently, she is making impactful strides at SAYDSKenya, where she is dedicated to “planting seeds of change” and developing systems leaders capable of facilitating lasting social transformation. At SAYDS, Mary plays a pivotal role in equipping young people with complexity and systems thinking skills essential for addressing complex social issues. The SAYDS program empowers youth across Kenya to critically analyze social challenges in their communities and devise sustainable solutions. This initiative is fostering a growing community of engaged citizens committed to advancing their nation and Africa.

Scientist Wanted

Scientist Role

We are looking for a Muslim scientist or scientist with deep expertise on the Qur’an and Hadith/exposure to Islamic culture  to develop a method to gather data (including images) about culturally important plants that are currently growing in Wisconsin and Michigan. An important component of this work will be creating and executing workshops to help people accurately identify plants mentioned in the Qur’an and Hadith and sharing information about how to grow them. In addition to setting up a system to collect data online, we are also looking for someone to help share the data with the broader public through an online storymap (or similar type of platform). We are very open to having students engage on the project and are also open to a scientist that engages with us from a remote location inside or outside of Wisconsin and Michigan. 

Desired Skills and Qualifications:

  • Muslim or deep familiarity with and respect for Islamic culture
  • Plant identification skills
  • GIS skills and experience with GIS storymapping software like ArcGIS
  • Experience with digital community science projects
  • Respect for local knowledge and community expertise
  • Experience with/desire to participate in community education, outreach, and engagement
  • Consistent communication and collaboration skills 
  • Remote participation okay 

Thriving Earth Exchange asks all scientific partners to work with the community to help define a project with concrete local impact to which they can contribute as pro-bono volunteers and collaborators. This work can also position the scientists and communities to seek additional funding, together, for the next stage.

Interested in volunteering as a scientist? Apply now!

Collaborating Organization(s)

Wisconsin Green Muslims is a grassroots environmental justice group formed in 2005, intends to educate the Muslim community and the general public about the Islamic environmental justice teachings, to apply these teachings in daily life and to contribute to collaborations and coalitions working toward a just, healthy, peaceful and sustainable future. Currently, Wisconsin Green Muslims is focused on creating an Islamic Garden as a community space to teach about and enjoy the natural world. They will serve as a key community catalyst, helping us connect with community members and community groups interested in our project.  

Allen Centennial Garden is a 2.5 acre public garden on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Garden is open daily to the public for free. Its mission is to create garden experiences that deepen relationships among people and plants. Currently, Allen Centennial Garden is collaborating with Wisconsin Green Muslims to design and build an Islamic garden within our space. We also bring connections to UW-Madison students, a rich understanding of how to grow and display plants, and experience communicating with the public about plants as assets to this project. 

Michigan Green Muslims is a grassroots environmental justice group formed in 2024, intends to educate the Muslim community and the general public about the Islamic environmental justice teachings, to apply these teachings in daily life and to contribute to collaborations and coalitions working toward a just, healthy, peaceful and sustainable future.