Green Sufism and the Right to Breathe: Beyond Sunday Car Free Days

Prof. Dr. Bambang Irawan, M.Ag.
Professor, UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta

Car Free Day (CFD) breaks the most comfortable myth: that pollution is the destiny of big cities. In fact, CFD shows that pollution can decrease when its sources are reduced. The root problem is not simply that “citizens lack awareness,” but that policy directions have long favored private vehicles and penalized pedestrians.

We must be honest that Jakarta and many other major cities have been built with the logic of cars, not the logic of human beings. Sidewalks are narrow, disconnected, and unsafe. Cycling is often treated as a disturbance, not a right. Public transportation has improved, but integration, comfort, safety, and affordability must continue to be strengthened so it can truly replace dependence on private vehicles.

If CFD becomes only a “Sunday morning stage,” it will turn into a one-day charity to redeem a year of sins—crowded for a moment, then back to spreading smoke; orderly for a moment, then back to cutting each other off; healthy for a moment, then back to treating shortness of breath as normal. CFD should be a measuring tool and a trigger for public debate: what policies make clean air such a rare event?

From a Pause to a System

If CFD is seriously understood as a campaign for the environment and quality of life, it must demand concrete follow-up. Not just moral appeals, but bold policy design—inevitably controversial because it touches interests.

First, strict emission enforcement. Emission tests must not become seasonal formalities. Vehicles that fail emission standards must truly have their mobility restricted. If a vehicle harms public health, it is no longer a “private matter.” It becomes a social harm.

Second, expansion of safe spaces for walking and cycling—not symbolic lanes. A sane city makes it easy to move without machines. If citizens are forced to choose between “using a vehicle” or “risking their lives on the road,” then we have failed as designers of civilization.

Third, firm management of private vehicle restrictions: more rational parking limits and vehicle controls in dense areas during certain hours. These measures are always controversial, but cities that seriously pursue quality of life must dare to prioritize public health over the convenience of a few.

Fourth, strengthening public transportation as a form of ecological justice. Do not let public transit be the “last option.” It must become the “best option”: integrated, safe, comfortable, and affordable. Otherwise, CFD will be like a sermon without follow-up—beautiful to hear, poor in implementation.

Fifth, cleanliness discipline and waste control in every public space. A CFD that leaves trash behind is a humiliating irony. We claim to love the earth, yet leave garbage on the streets. The real question is this: do we want a city that is “smooth for cars" or a city that is “healthy for humans”?

Green Sufism: Air, Land, and Water Are Not Inanimate

Green Sufism teaches something simple yet profound. Nature is not merely a stage or background. Nature is a spiritual companion. Air, land, and water are not disposable goods. They are creations fulfilling their duties, and we will be held accountable for how we treat them. The Qur’an states with clarity:

“Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what people’s hands have done…” (QS. Ar-Rum 30:41)

This is not merely a verse to recite. It is a diagnosis. Destruction is not a mystery; it is a consequence. There is also a sharper warning:

“And do not cause corruption on the earth after it has been set in order.” (QS. Al-A’raf 7:56)

The earth was set in order, balanced, and measured. We arrived and disrupted it in the name of progress. Even in consumption, God points to the root of disaster with a word we often underestimate: "israf" (excess).

“Eat and drink, but do not be excessive.” (QS. Al-A’raf 7:31)

We often associate excess with food. Yet wasting energy, wasting fuel, and making unnecessary trips—these are also israf. And excess always has a cost: paid by polluted air, paid by public health, paid by future generations. Then God establishes a cosmic principle often forgotten by policymakers: mizan—balance.

“And He raised the sky and set the balance so that you do not transgress in the balance.” (QS. Ar-Rahman 55:7–8)

When balance is violated, disaster is not merely a “punishment from the sky.” It is also the consequence of limits we ourselves have crossed.

The Prophet said, “Cleanliness is part of faith.” (Narrated by a Muslim). If faith is strong in symbols but weak in clean air, clean water, and clean public spaces, then what is fragile is not only the city but also the way we practice faith.

He also reminded us, “Removing harm from the road is charity.” (Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim). Today, harm on the road is not only stones or thorns. The greatest harm is smoke, noise, reckless driving, and systems that make roads hostile to pedestrians.

If removing a thorn is charity, what about removing the causes of suffocation? Likewise, the Prophet’s teaching is a foundation of public ethics: “There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.” (Narrated by Ibn Majah and others). Pollution that damages others’ health is not an “individual right.” It is harm that must be stopped.

Closing

CFD gives us optimism that Jakarta can be healthier, quieter, cooler, and more humane. Do not let it become just a Sunday photo. If we are serious, CFD is a door to social repentance—repentance from policies that pamper private vehicles, from energy-wasteful lifestyles, from a way of religiosity that talks much about heaven but neglects the earth.

A city that can breathe is a city that allows its citizens to live longer, calmer, and more sane lives. In the lens of Green Sufism, a sane city is one that returns to civility toward humans, toward nature, and toward God. One day of breathing clean air is beautiful. But more beautiful—and more necessary—is daring to turn it into a system. Because one day, we will not only be asked how much worship we performed but also in what condition we returned this entrusted earth.

This article was published in Kumparan on Wednesday, February 12, 2026.