Abstract
This article is presented in two parts; the first draws attention to a set of principles, beginning with that of tawḥīd and the vision it conveys of the common predicament of man with the rest of the created world. This is followed by a review of two principles, namely, of khalīfah, the vicegerency of man in the earth, and the principle of trust (amānah). The second part addresses instances of violation of these principles in three main areas: spreading mischief (fasād) on earth, extravagance and waste (isrāf) and infliction of harm (ḍarar). The focus of discussion in this part is on human management, or rather mismanagement, of the earth and its resources with the result that humanity itself has become the chief victim of its own failings. The conclusion calls attention to how Islam’s inclusive outlook and teachings can make a distinctive contribution to the ongoing climate change debate. The article ends with recommendations for possible reforms.
This article is a revised version of the paper presented at the International Conference on “Environment in Islam”, organised by the Aal al-Bayt Foundation for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan, 27–29 September 2010.
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Notes
- 1.
Widespread deforestation, the conversion of wetlands to farms or urban sprawl and the clogging up of natural drainage systems with garbage also exacerbate the impacts of the devastating floods. See New Straits Times, 20 August 2010, p. 27.
- 2.
The United States has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and Western governments generally took questionable postures in the Copenhagen conference.
- 3.
Cf., Lionel Rubin, An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science (London, 1932), quoted in Setia (2007), p. 137.
- 4.
The twentieth century saw the disappearance of half the world’s forests and the depletion of fish stocks by about two thirds. For instance, Peru’s fishing was estimated at 3.5 million tonnes in 1960, increasing by 1965 to 9 million, and to 13.5 million in 1970. In 1975, it declined to 3 million and to 1.5 million in 1978 (ʿAbd al-Jawad 1991), p. 34.
- 5.
Delegates were left frustrated as the United States refused to agree to any binding treaty. The Copenhagen Accord was drafted by the United States and the BASIC group of countries (Brazil, China, India and South Africa). The document is not legally binding and no set decisions on emission reductions were made. China overtook the United States as the biggest emitter in 2008 and recently it was reported as the largest energy consumer.
- 6.
The names of surahs in the Qur’an thus include the Arabic equivalents of cattle, honeybees, ant, spider, cow, horse, elephant, iron, star, moon, morning, night, time, mountain, city, lightning, winds, fig, olive and so forth. See for a discussion Al-Qaradawi (2001), p. 54.
- 7.
- 8.
Cf., Bakar (2006), p. 41.
- 9.
Other Qur’anic references to the earth: “We vested it (the earth) with the means of livelihood for you” (7:10), blessed it and made it a safe place for you to live (41:10), richly endowed it with greenery and fruits of all kinds (22:63) and subjugated it to you to harness its resources for your enjoyment (45:13; 67:15).
- 10.
Hadith narrated by Anas b. Mālik, in: al-Albani (1954), hadith no. 7, p. 179.
- 11.
Muslim b. al-Hajjaj al-Nishaburi al-Albani (1987), hadith no. 1,249.
- 12.
Cf., Q. 6: 99; 27: 60; 36:33.
- 13.
Agreed upon hadith, recorded by al-Bukhari, Ṣaḥīḥ, hadith no. 1,001.
- 14.
According to Al-Qaradawi (2001), pp. 72–73, iḥyā’ al-mawāt is regulated by detailed fiqh rules; one that may be mentioned is that reclamation should be with the approval of government just as the latter is authorised to repossess the land from one who fails to build on it after 2 or 3 years and assign it to someone else who can develop it.
- 15.
Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī, 3, p. 306; also quoted by Al-Qaradawi (2001).
- 16.
Al-Raghib al-Isfahani, Al-Dharīʿah ilā makārim al-sharīʿah, as quoted in Al-Qaradawi (2001), p. 64.
- 17.
Three such hadiths are discussed in Khayyat (2002), p. 32 [in Pashto].
- 18.
Translation of verses quoted from Lumbard (2008), p. 66.
- 19.
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, hadith no. 2,618.
- 20.
al-Sijistani, Sunan, transl. Ahmad Hasan, hadith no. 456; also in Hanbal (1994), vol. 5, hadith no. 17.
- 21.
Hadith of sound authority related by al-Bukhari and Muslim on the authority of Abu Hurayrah.
- 22.
Several hadiths recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and Sunan Abī Dawud. See for a discussion of these Bakadar et al. (1997), p. 83f.
- 23.
ʿAbd Allah b. ʿUmar reported that the Prophet, when he passed by Saʿd b. Abi Waqqas who was taking the ablution for prayer but using more water than necessary, said: “What is this waste, O Saʿd! He replied “Can there be waste in washing for the prayer?” The Prophet replied: “Yes, even if you are beside a flowing river” (reported by Hanbal (1994); also quoted in Al-Qaradawi (2001), p. 102. There is a weakness in the chain of narration of this hadith, but it is strengthened by another hadith recorded by Ibn Majah in Sunan Ibn Majah (hadith no. 424) to the effect that the Prophet “saw a man doing ablution and told him : do not waste, do not waste”.
- 24.
Thus the instruction: “Tie not your hand to your neck nor stretch it to its utmost reach that may then leave you self-blaming and regretful” (Q. 17:29).
- 25.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, hadith no. 5,515, and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, hadith no. 1,958.
- 26.
Al-Nasa’i, Sunan al-Nasā’ī, vol. 7, 229.
- 27.
See for details Al-Qaradawi (2001), p. 146f.
- 28.
Cf., Zaydan (2004), p. 86.
- 29.
- 30.
Cf., al-Jawad (1991), p. 33.
- 31.
See also Tyser (1967), Art. 25.
- 32.
Tyser (1967), Art. 26.
- 33.
Cf., ʿAbd al-Jawad (1991), p. 147.
- 34.
- 35.
See, for English translation of a number of hadiths on animal care, Abd al-Hamid (1997), pp. 62–63.
- 36.
See for details Al-Qaradawi (2001), pp. 122–134.
- 37.
Al-Qaradawi stressed the Qur’anic verse (13:11) according to which God will not change a people unless they make that decision for themselves.
- 38.
Note that when the ʿulamā’ of the Central Kalimantan branch of Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) in 2006 issued a fatwā against the open burning of forests and declared unauthorised deforestation as “sinful” and “prohibited” (ḥarām), the villagers complied. Activists said that only the religious “elite” could reach out the villagers. On 19 June 2007, the local MUI head, Abdul Wahid Qusimy, said his “learned body” had stepped up that effort to inform Muslims in Indonesian Borneo about the ruling against burning of forests. It is instructive to note also that Muslim schools in Java started an Islamic green movement in Indonesia: When the founders of the Darul Uloom boarding school, a traditional pesantren (madrasah), started building the school compound in Sukabumi (West Java) in 1995, it was hot and humid. The founders decided to set aside 1 ha of the 7 ha as ḥarīm designated only for the planting of trees. Four years later and after 700 trees were planted, the air around the school is cool and fresh. The 700 is exactly the number of graduates as every student is required to plant one tree before graduation. This was the result of the “one student, one tree” policy initiated by the school, which also required each student to maintain a tree.
The Darul Uloom success story drew the attention of pesantrens in Bogor, including NGOs to follow suit. On 29 July 2009, nineteen pesantren representing 31,900 students converged in Bogor to launch a more ambitious move to protect a local national park through the implementation of the Islamic conservation tradition of himmah, a system of resource tenure established by the Prophet himself. See Yamin (2009).
- 39.
Cf., al-Zuhayli (2006), p. 719.
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Kamali, M.H. (2016). Islam and the Environment: An Examination of the Source Evidence. In: Kamali, M., Bakar, O., Batchelor, DF., Hashim, R. (eds) Islamic Perspectives on Science and Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-778-9_12
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