Day 17: Standing up for trees

"The faithful servants of the Beneficent are those who walk upon the earth gently." Quran, Surah Al Furqan 25:63

Zayd has always been passionate about trees, the environment, and all living creatures.  I remember when he was little, whenever it would rain and the worms would come out, he would stop and scoop each one on a leaf and move it to the side so "no big foot would stomp on it".  He cries unconsolably whenever trees are cut down, and helps plant new ones to replace them (more about his tree planting project in a future blog).

In Islam planting trees is considered an act of on-going charity, the best type of good deed.  Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that if one plants a tree, whatever is eaten from it by people or animals counts as a an act of charity for the person who planted the tree. (Sahih Bukhari 3:51)

We've always wanted to visit Casey Trees -- an excellent tree-planting organization in Washington DC -- and today we did.  It was founded in 2001 after Betty Brown Casey, a local resident and philanthropist, read a Washington Post article describing the decline of the District's trees.  Casey Trees has already planted more than 10,000 trees and hopes to plant over 200,000 in Washington DC by 2035.  It also has extensive educational initiatives and an organized volunteer program.  Zayd and I met with someone to learn more about the organization and how we could help.  We signed up for workshops about the importance of trees, tree planting and pruning, even a bike tour on the National Mall to explore DC's trees -- and even got t-shirts, "I dig trees", which we wear proudly. Day 17: Deed 17: Standing up for trees.