Patterns are important. Patterns are familiar to all of us. We can learn from patterns. We can use patterns to accomplish things. Patterns are the way we frame our designs. The Pattern is design.
Design is the subject of Permaculture.
The whole of Humanity follows patterns. Our societies follow patterns. Even our own individual lives follow patterns.
Do we have any choice in the patterns we follow?
Where should we look to find patterns that work?
Dendritic means having a branched form resembling a tree. The dendritic pattern can be found throughout nature.
Multiple small paths enhance our access to . . . any system where we both take and give materials. -Bill Mollison
Emulating Natural Patterns: Trees are Teachers
Mature trees are strong and engage in mutually beneficial exchanges with a variety of organisms within their vicinity and around the world. A mature tree has taken a long time to grow and develop. Its roots are unseen from above ground but may go very deep and are essential to the tree and to the organisms interacting with the tree. Humans are among those organisms who need trees to survive. Many trees however, do not need humans to survive.
The pillars of our conventional system are shaking. The pioneers of the next succession of growth are already being established.
“Tree roots are, in fact, a slow shatter or explosion underground” -Bill Mollison
The knowledge of Permaculture is spreading globally as awareness of the need for it grows.
“In human systems we have confused the order of hierarchical function with status and power, as though a tree stem were less important than the leaves in total. . .What we should recognizes is that each part needs the other, and that none functions without the others.” -Bill Mollison
We do not need bailouts. We do not need banks. We do not need Genetically Modified Food. We do not need to rely on government promises.
We do need individuals who are capable of Design.
We do need individuals who see abundance to challenge systems that impose scarcity.
We do need each other.
The strategy for Murujan Permaculture Design is simple: educate and develop talented and capable Permaculture designers and then help find and create opportunities for the designers to utilize their skills and provide needed productivity for humanity.
The Fruits
The fruits of education and exchange of knowledge will be expressed in many ways. A variety of alternative pathways to satisfy our resource needs are being developed or already exist. As the focus of Murujan Permaculture is on designing for the Muslim Community, we are researching and developing solutions that roughly fall into the following categories:
1) Adaption and modification of existing Permaculture designs and models to suit the needs of Muslim communities.
2) Development of original solutions by Muslims for Muslims.
3) Revival and Resurgence of solutions already existing within the Muslim tradition.
Below are summarized a few examples of how some of these solutions may look. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but merely a starting point from which creativity can progress.
Blueprint for the Muslim Eco-Village
Eco-Villages are:
“human-scale full-featured settlement in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development, and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future.”
An intentional community is a set of like-minded people who come together to form a coordinated group in order to achieve a purpose.
The blueprint we intend to develop will present a model of the organizational structure necessary to form an intentional community whose purpose is to develop an eco-village for Muslims. The blueprint will also include advice and examples of best practices with regards to the physical infrastructure and technology with the aim of developing an ecologically sound project.
Examples:
Are you involved with setting up an eco-village for a Muslim community?
Email us information about your project at 
Community Supported Agriculture
Community Supported Agriculture is an arrangement where a group of people come together to organize purchases directly from a farmer. The exact arrangements vary but typically the members of the CSA also contribute through time and effort to help with the production or distribution and logistics.
The benefits of a CSA are many, but among them are organic and wholesome food that can be purchased at a lower cost because the middle men have been cut out. But probably the most beneficial aspect is the strengthening of the community bonds that comes from working together and knowing where your food is coming from and the satisfaction that you had some role in that process.
We are researching and developing a model that works for Muslims by making sure the arrangements and contracts are permissible, and the inclusion of meat from humanely treated animals as well as their proper slaughter. Practical ideas such as designating the masjed as a drop-off point is another feature that distinguishes CSA arrangements that cater for Muslims.
We hope to help develop real examples of CSA arrangements for Muslims as well as to publish and share useful information that helps other to develop arrangements that work for their particular community.
Here are some excellent resources to learn more:
https://www.biodynamics.com/csa.html
http://www.localharvest.org/csa/
Are you involved with setting up a CSA for a Muslim community?
Email us information about your project at
These are just a few examples of the kinds of solutions that we will need going forward: Solutions that both adhere to Islamic values and laws and that creatively harness wealth, ingenuity and labor to improve the quality of life of people without harming other people or natural systems in doing so.
Murujan 