The Environmental Dimensions of Islam

The Environmental Dimensions of Islam
Author: Mūʼil Yūsuf ʻIzz al-Dīn
Publisher: James Clarke & Co.
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2000
Genre: Ecology
ISBN: 9780718829605

Islamic attitudes are of increasing concern to the Western world and environmental issues claim much attention as well. Perhaps, though, few non-Muslims realise that there is a distinctive Islamic contribution to the environmental debate; consequently, it provides a much needed Islamic input into the world-wide process of consultation on the future of the planet. Born from the 1992 Earth Summit, this book is a major account of Islam's contribution to the environmental debate. Dr Izzi Dien viewsthe topic from historical, theological, philosophical, legal and ethical perspectives, examining such aspects as the Quranic doctrine of Creation, human responsibility and the actions of governments. His conclusions will not only be an invaluable submission to ecological groups but enlighten the general public, both inside and outside the Islamic community, about Muslim teaching on this area. The Environmental Dimensions of Islam is an important book, touching on issues of community, empowerment and culture. It will challenge those of all faiths and none to reconsider their attitudes towards both the Islamic and the natural world.

Muslim Environmentalisms

Muslim Environmentalisms
Author: Anna M. Gade
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2019-08-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0231549210

How might understandings of environmentalism and the environmental humanities shift by incorporating Islamic perspectives? In this book, Anna M. Gade explores the religious and cultural foundations of Islamic environmentalisms. She blends textual and ethnographic study to offer a comprehensive and interdisciplinary account of the legal, ethical, social, and empirical principles underlying Muslim commitments to the earth. Muslim Environmentalisms shows how diverse Muslim communities and schools of thought have addressed ecological questions for the sake of this world and the world to come. Gade draws on a rich spectrum of materials―scripture, jurisprudence, science, art, and social and political engagement―as well as fieldwork in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The book brings together case studies in disaster management, educational programs, international development, conservation projects, religious ritual and performance, and Islamic law to rethink key theories. Gade shows that the Islamic tradition leads us to see the environment as an ethical idea, moving beyond the established frameworks of both nature and crisis. Muslim Environmentalisms models novel approaches to the study of religion and environment from a humanistic perspective, reinterpreting issues at the intersection of numerous academic disciplines to propose a postcolonial and global understanding of environment in terms of consequential relations.

Green Deen

Green Deen
Author: Ibrahim Abdul-Matin
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2013-01-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1605099465

A Muslim environmentalist explores the fascinating intersection of environmentalism and Islam. Muslims are compelled by their religion to praise the Creator and to care for their community. But what is not widely known is that there are deep and long-standing connections between Islamic teachings and environmentalism. In this groundbreaking book, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin draws on research, scripture, and interviews with Muslim Americans to trace Islam’s preoccupation with humankind’s collective role as stewards of the Earth. Abdul-Matin points out that the Prophet Muhammad declared “the Earth is a mosque.” Using the concept of Deen, which means “path” or “way” in Arabic, Abdul-Matin offers dozens of examples of how Muslims can follow, and already are following, a Green Deen in four areas: “waste, watts (energy), water, and food.”

Environmentalism in the Muslim World

Environmentalism in the Muslim World
Author: Richard C. Foltz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2005
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

This is the first book to provide an overview of how Muslim activists are responding on the ground to the global environmental crisis. The detrimental effects of environmental degradation are felt most severely by the world's poor, a disproportionate number of whom are Muslims. Unfortunately, governments of Muslim societies have been slow to respond to environmental problems, while opposition movements as well have mostly chosen to focus on other issues. Nevertheless, environmental awareness and activism are growing throughout the Muslim world. This book offers chapters by leading Muslim environmentalists which survey environmental initiatives in Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Malaysia. Issues are detailed pointing out both successes and failures and describing the unique challenges facing the world's very diverse Muslim societies in striving to balance development and social justice with preserving the integrity of the earth's life support systems.

Signs on the Earth

Signs on the Earth
Author: Fazlun Khalid
Publisher: Kube Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 436
Release: 2019-02-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1847740774

A major study of environmentalism and Islam in practice and theory, with an historical overview that sets out future challenges, including reformulating the fiqh or Islamic legal tradition to take the ecological dimension seriously. In addressing this book to the one billion Muslims in the world it has the potential to reinvigorate the desire for environmental change in a community that is ignored at the planets peril. In arguing that modernity, consumerism and industrialisation need to be rethought, alongside an appeal to reconnect man and woman with creation in the divine order, this book has the potential to transform a generation. In the same way that Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything presented the argument for environmental action in a Capitalist framework, Fazlun Khalid has written a book that demands action from those whose primary orientation is towards the Islamic faith.

Islam and Ecology

Islam and Ecology
Author: Richard C. Foltz
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 646
Release: 2003
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

Articulating a contemporary Islamic environmental ethic is all the more urgent because Western-style conservation efforts do not fit all cultural and philosophical traditions. This volume outlines the Islamic world view and reviews the ways it can be interpreted, reassessed, and applied to environmental problems like pollution and water scarcity.

Environmental Health

Environmental Health
Author: Muhammad Haytham Al Khayat
Publisher: World Health Organization
Total Pages: 36
Release: 1997
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN:

Discusses the ways in which Islamic teachings and the views of Muslim physicians and scholars can be used to identify specific actions to protect the environment and thus promote human health. Teachings underscoring the links between health and the environment are also reviewed and interpreted. The opening section stresses the need to maintain a balance between the environment's capacity to support life and human behaviors that create demands on the environment. Particular attention is given to the concept of environmental harmony and the need to preserve the environment's dynamic equilibrium. Section two looks at teachings that underscore the relationship between the physical environment and the maintenance of good health. Against this background, the next section concentrates on specific abuses of the environment and their significance within the context of Islamic teachings. Problems cited include the excessive use of natural resources, industrial pollution of air and water, overcrowding, misuse of agricultural chemicals, and the production of hazardous wastes. The health effects of increasingly polluted air are described in detail. The final section cites religious teachings that offer guidance in ways to protect the environment and conserve natural resources.

Islam and Sustainable Development

Islam and Sustainable Development
Author: Odeh Rashed Al-Jayyousi
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2016-05-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1317112504

In Islam and Sustainable Development, Odeh Al-Jayyousi addresses the social, human and economic dimensions of sustainability from an Islamic perspective. Islam is sometimes viewed as a challenge, threat and risk to the West, but here we are reminded that the celebration of cultural diversity is a key component in Islamic values. Promoting common understanding between East and West, this American-educated, Middle Eastern-based author offers something broader and deeper than conventional Western ways of thinking about sustainability and presents new insights inspired by Islamic worldviews. Drawing on his roles as both academic researcher and senior development practitioner, Professor Al-Jayyousi applies his deep understanding of Islamic values to contemporary environmental, financial and social conflicts and crises and defines a framework for sustainability embracing local, regional and global perspectives. He also addresses how education might produce innovation, knowledge creation and development to support a new paradigm for sustainability that re-defines what constitutes good life, beyond consumerism and the production of waste. This book will interest policy makers, development and donor communities, funding agencies and banks in the Islamic World and beyond, as well as those with a professional interest in planning and in environmental and conservation issues. Scholars of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies and more broadly, those with an academic interest in cultural and religious studies, will find that this book in Gower's Transformation and Innovation Series is perhaps the most substantial work yet on sustainable development from an Islamic perspective.