ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS: ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE
Dr. Tabassum Sheikh
Associate Professor, Dept. of Philosophy G.M.Momin Women’s College, Bhiwandi.
Mankind’s future is intrinsically linked with its attitude towards the environment. The Western
scholars of contemporary human situation have traced the roots of our environmental crisis to the
Judaeo-Christian attitude towards nature. It is this attitude, and the accompanying traditional and
intellectual heritage, which is responsible for the seven impersonal threats that the human future
now faces: a runaway, production-orientated technology, which has led to the depletion of
earth’s nature resources, post-critical total and per capita pressure on land and environment,
ever-increasing output of wastes; stockpiles of enough nuclear, chemical and biological weapons
to destroy the earth several times; the massive growth of human population and its accumulation
in vast urban conurbations: and the alienation of man from his environments and from nature.
Each one of these trends represents a major threat to our collective well-being and survival.
Scholars like Fraser Darling, Theodore Roszak, Jerome Ravetz, Sir Geoffrey Vickers and Lynn
White Jr argue that these threats are a product of the Western ethical systems.
What are the ethical principles of ecology? These are seven such principles which have been
derived from the study of living systems. The first and primary principles is that of holistic
environment, with everything affecting everything else- directly or indirectly. Nothing operates
in isolation: everything connects with everything else to perform the cosmic symphony of life.
International Research Journal of Human Resources and Social Sciences
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The ‘living resources’ of the earth provide us with the second principles of ecology. Biological
diversity is the most precious and irreplaceable heritage that the human race possesses for it
ensures the perpetuity of life on earth.
Recycling and redistribution of resources constitutes the third great principle of ecological
behavior. All ecosystems continuously recycle waste, materials are used, discarded and picked
up by other ecosystems for their use – on and on, in infinite cycles.
The fourth principle is that of limiting factors: certain environmental factors limit the functioning
of living organisms within all ecosystems.
The fifth principle of ecological behaviour, is the fact that overpopulation ensures that some
individuals survive to reproduce the species.
All ecosystems have a definite capability of sustaining a given amount of life. This capability is
often referred to as ‘carrying capacity’. This carrying capacity, the sixth principle of ecology, has
its counterparts in engineering systems and organizational behaviour. However, it has a more
sophisticated aspect in ecology.
The seventh and last principle of ecological ethics concerns the development and stability of
ecosystems. Ecosystems have developed over a long span of time, staring from simple systems
and progressing to more complex, highly interconnected systems which are in equilibrium and
stable.
Any discussion of ethics in Islam must, of necessity, start with an exposition of the concept of
tawhid. Tawhid exemplifies the unity of God: the recognition that there is one, absolute,
transcendent Creator of the universe and all that it contains. Man is ultimately responsible for all
his actions to Him.
trusteeship. Man is accountable for the misuse of his trust and is liable to pay a price both in this
world and the akhrah (hereafter).
This denial of absolute sovereignty to man, writes Parvez Manzoor, is tantamount to investing
him with moral responsibility. As any kind of responsibility can, in the last analysis, only be
personal, it is a natural corollary of man’s acceptance of trust that he be born free and innocent.
Man is thus in the Islamic tradition a creature unsullied by any ontological flaws. He bears no
stigma of any ‘original sin’ that would make him a victim of his own humanity. From the Muslim standpoint, a ‘fallen’ humanity is commensurable neither with divine justice nor with
human dignity.
Within this framework, nature become man’s testing ground.
In Islam, the pursuit of knowledge cannot be separated from the concerns of morality.
The Islamic environment is controlled by two concepts: halal (that which is beneficial) and
haram (that which is harmful). When closely examined, haram includes all that which is
destructive for man environment and the environment at large. All that is beneficial for an
individual, his society and his environment is halal. Thus an action that is halal brings all-round
benefits.
The matrix of this conceptual framework- tawhid, khilafah, amana, halal, haram, adl, itidal,
istihsan and istislah- constitutes a paradigm of the Islamic theory of environment. If this
framework was fully operationalized in the Muslim ummah (community) it would revolutionize
the behaviour and thinking of Muslim people. It was a consideration of these concepts from an
ecological perspective that led Parvez Manzoor to dismiss Lynn White Jr’s assertion that ‘Islam,
like Marxism, is a Judaeo-christian heresy’ and, as such, is equally responsible for the
‘monotheistic debasement of nature’ as ‘irreverent nonsense’. Indeed, to assume that Islam, like
Christianity, marshalls an ethic of environmental domination is either simple ignorance or the
The ecological concerns of Islam are given a practical shape in the Shariah, or Islamic law,
which incorporates a whole body of environmental legislation. The ultimate consequence of
man’s acceptance of trusteeship is the arbitration of his conduct by divine judgement.
But Shariah is also a methodology for solving problems. To quote Parvez Manzoor again:
by its application temporal contingencies are jubdged by eternal imperatives, moral choices are
transformed into options for concrete action and ethical sentiment is objectified into law. It is in
fact the problem-solving methodology par excellence of Islam. Any theoretical Muslim thinking,
as for instance our search for an environmental ethic, must pass through the objective framework
of Shariah in order to become operative and be part of Muslim history. Shariah thus provides
both the ethical norms and the legal structure within which Muslim state (s) may make actual
decisions pertaining to concrete ecological issues. And not only is Shariah indispensable for
decision making in an Islamic context, its moral realism also provides excellent paradigms for
theoretical discussion of Islamic ecological philosophy.
There are four ramifications of this amana from God:
1. That ownership signifies only the right to use and this ownership can be transferred.
2. That the owner is entitled to ‘private ownership’ only as long as he uses it.
3. That the owner who ceases to use his gift is induced, and in some cases even forced, to
part with his idle possessions.
4. That in no case is the owner allowed to charge rent for a free gift of God from another
person who, in fact, has the equal right to its use.
Using this principle, Othman Llewellyn points out.
Malik ibn Anas and Abu Hanifah formulated the principles that the exercise of a right is
permitted only for the achievement of the purpose for which the rights was created, that the
exercise of a right is illegal where it result in excessive harm.
The Prophet Mohammad himself emphasized the importance of land reclamation in a number of
reckoned as charity from him; and if anyone plants a tree, no human nor any of the creatures of
Allah will eat from it without its being reckoned as charity from him’.
Wildlife and natural resources too have rights in Islam. The Prophet established inviolate zones
bordering water-courses, utilities and towns. Within these haram zones, the Shariah restricts or
prohibits development to ensure that invaluable resources are protected. Wildlife and forest
come under the dictates of hima in the Shariah. Hima is a reserve that safeguards their rights: it is
established solely for the conservation of wildlife and forest. The Prophet Mohammad reserved
the surroundings of Medina as a hima for the protection of vegetation and wildlife. And he
declared that private reserves for the exclusive use of individuals are haram. Thus reserves in
Islam are public property and are managed by the state. A number of the hima established in
western Arabia have been grazed responsibly since early Islam and are considered by the Food
and Agricultural Organization (FAQ) to be the most longstanding examples of wise grazing
management known in the world. There are five types of hima to be found in the Arabian
peninsula today.
1. Reserves in which grazing is prohibited.
2. Reserves for forest trees in which woodcutting is prohibited or restricted.
3. Reserves in which grazing is restricted to certain seasons.
4. Reserves restricted to certain species and numbers of live-stock.
5. Reserves for beekeeping, in which grazing is prohibited during flowering.
6. Reserves managed for the welfare of a particular village or tribes.
These injunctions concerning the use of land, the protection of water from pollution, the
conservation of wildlife and forests are among the few ecological principles codified in the
Shairah. They demonstrate the environmental awareness of the world-view of Islam which
provides not just an ethic based on ecological concerns but also a body of legislation to give
practical shape to ethical issues.
Gulzar Haider’s formulation of an Islamic City is based on the concepts of tawhid, khilafah,
khilqat (nature), jihad (directed struggle), adl ibadah (worship), itm and jamal (beauty). Tawhid
and khilafah dictate that the Islamic city be a city of trusteeship and accountability: ‘there is
and sign (ayat) of God for man to reflect upon and enhance his faith (iman), as a book of
knowledge (ilm) to be understood and appreciated, and as a benevolent trust (amana) whose
value is in its utilization towards the enhancement of the art of life within the coordinates of
Islamic norms and values. Islamic city creates an environment that ‘values simplicity as
economy of means towards generosity of ends’, promotes-solving attitudes and values skills, hard work and ingenuity, and where ‘creativity and craft are a manner of worship, a homage by the believer to the Creator of all the man’s abilities’. Islamic environment is ‘a sense of order that
inspires aesthetic response, a beauty that is hidden, elusive, and transcendental- a beauty beyond
our sense bound and fashion dependent normative tastes’. And finally, Islamic city promotes an
active, dynamic, goal-orientated environment which maintains a sustained struggle (jihad) for
values inherent in the matrix of concepts that give it its unique character.
Environmental sensibility implies that the design of Islamic land form, water bodies and
woodlands and climate to which it must respond in the same manner as ‘sand dunes respond to wind’.
The challenge of conceiving and creating methodologies and technologies and adopting
appropriate Islamic legislation to meet the contemporary environmental crisis lies with Muslim
societies. It is a challenge that has to be met, for the only other option is to permit our natural and
built environment to lead to an ecological catastrophe.
References:
1. Lynn White Jr. ‘The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis’, Science, 155, 1203-7
(1967).
2. This and subsequent quotations from Parvez Manzoor are from his paper, ‘Envrionment
and values: The Islamic Perspective’ in Sardar, Z. (ed.), The Touch of Midas: Science,
Values and Environment in Islam and the west , university of Manchaster press, 1984.
3. Quotation from Gulzar Haider, Islam and habitat a conceptual formulation of an Islamic
