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Exploring Environmental Ethics in Islam – Insights from the Qur’an and the
Practice of Prophet Muhammad

Fazlun Khalid

Abstract
Islamic environmentalism is embedded in the matrix of Islamic teachings. The Qur’an, the
holy text of the Muslims, is inherently conservationist and much of it has to do with how hu-
mans being relate to the natural world and the benefits that accrue from protecting it. The
Qur’an is holistic and it defines humanity’s place in creation as khalifa or steward. There are
two layers to Islamic environmentalism: A body of ethics based on the Qur’an which we
would define as Knowledge of Creation (Ilm ul khalq) and a body of practical action which
we would define as natural resource management (Fiqh al bi’ah).

Keywords
Islamic, environmentalism, Qur’an, Muslims, conservationist, natural world, creation, ethics,
Knowledge of Creation, natural resource management

A Disrupted Tradition – Some Uncomfortable Thoughts

Faith traditions have customarily been responsible for the protection of the natural
world. This was not a conscious matter, as faith-based environmentalism did not appear as a
special subject; rather, it was interwoven into the texts and practices which we have now
come to describe as holistic. The advent and advance of secular education ensured the demise
of the holistic approach as faith and tradition were relegated as simply matters for the indi-
vidual conscience. At one and the same time individuals and society were progressively
drawn into a type of education almost exclusively focusing on economic advancement that
viewed the natural world not as an entity to be cherished, but as a resource to be exploited.

In terms of human development, this has been a very recent event. The transition from
hunter gatherer to a life style we now describe as sedentarization is said to have begun over
14000 years ago. There is no denying humanity’s aggressive tendencies but through thick and
thin, through highs and lows, through progress and decline, through war and peace, our
species did manage to get up to about the seventeenth century, where environmentally speak-
ing we were in reasonable shape. There was, however, an intellectual buzz in sixteenth centu-
ry Europe which we have come to describe as the Enlightenment. As it matured over the fol-
lowing two hundred years it resulted in a “radical shift in psychological alliance from the di-
vine to humankind” (Tarnas 1996, 275-281). Cartesian dualism, Newton’s clockwork uni-
verse, and Adam Smith’s economics were some of the major influences that drove a wedge
between humankind and nature. Having intellectually established their position of dominance
humankind never ceased to seduce Mother Nature in the name of progress and prosperity.
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The post-Cartesian world has managed to destroy in just a matter of three hundred
years or so what our ancestors have preserved for millennia. We are now witnessing a panic
over climate change and while this issue clearly needs to be addressed other equally impor-
tant issues are being pushed further down our list of priorities, if not ignored. Climate change
is but one lethal cause among many that will continue to degrade the planet. It is the tip of the
iceberg, if this metaphor is apt. But, what lies submerged in the reckoning of events—as the
push for economic growth takes precedence over all other human affairs—is continued
species extinction, biodiversity destruction, deforestation, air, land, and sea pollution, popula-
tion disruption and, indeed, population growth.

Faith communities have been overtaken by events which they themselves have been
culpable of creating by acts of omission if not commission. As they wake up to their respon-
sibilities they have a monumental but necessary task of changing the behaviour of their ad-
herents from being consumers to conservers. This is something of a daunting task—but done
it must be.

There is no gainsaying the fact that faith communities have much to offer in this field
of human endeavor, and Islam is no exception to this. But, there has been a shift in emphasis.
The textual tradition in Islam is deep and profound but current Muslim practice is shallow as
priority is now given to economic drivers. What follows is an exploration of the Islamic
teaching on the relationship between Homo sapiens and the natural world.

Earth - A Sacred Site

Fitrah – the natural state

Almost every opening in the Qur’ān1 has some kind of reference to the natural world.
Its approach is holistic, and it deals with nature on the basis of the human as integral to it.
However, we have taken this for granted and have created a disconnection between ourselves
and the natural world to the extent that we treat it as the “other.” We have become observers
in the life experience we are integral to, and have formed a subject/object dichotomy between
ourselves and the natural world where one does not exist. This gap is more acute now than it
has ever been and we almost invariably see nature as a resource to be exploited. We once
took from it for survival but now we take from it for our aggrandizement. Paradoxically, the
gap widens as we come to know and understand more about natural phenomena from sub-
atomic particles to the distant galaxies.

The term “fitrah” in the Qur’ān describes an original natural state within which hu-
mankind was brought into being. Some translators describe this as the natural pattern, others
the original state or pattern, and yet others simply as nature. Some scholars describe fitrah as
the pure state or the state of infinite goodness and point to the possibility that everything in
creation has a potential for goodness, the conscious expression of which rests uniquely with
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humankind. We often say that children are born in a state of fitrah, unspoilt and pure.2 It is
commonly held that the real meaning of the Qur’ān in Arabic is untranslatable into any other
language but we may conclude that fitrah denotes the original and natural state of purity,
which applies to all of creation including the human in its newborn state. The term fitrah is
derived from the Arabic root F T R and occurs once in the Qur’an. It appears in its verb form,
fatarah, fourteen times.

The key verse in the Qur’ān in which both the noun and the verb form occur tells us,
“Allah originated you in His original creation. There is no changing Allah’s creation” (30:
30). In the part of this verse Arberry translates fitrah as original and fatarah as originated.
And here’s how two other translators see it. Abdalhaqq and Aisha Bewley translate fitrah as
natural pattern and fatarah as made. Yusuf Ali’s translation reads, “The nature in which Allah
has made mankind”; fitrah is translated here as nature and fatarah as made. Fitrah is a femi-
nine noun which allows us to consider nature as mother. As the translators grapple to transmit
the meaning of this verse, there is simplicity inherent in this message that conveys to us a
sense of where we belong in the pattern of Allah’s creation. The human race was originated,
indeed like all other sentient beings, in the bosom of the creation that Allah originated.

This verse continues, “There is no changing Allah’s creation. That is the true Deen3
but most people are unaware of it”. Humankind was brought into a vast universe functioning
within a natural, primordial, unchanging patterning but most people do not understand this.
This is like someone with basic mechanical knowledge trying to modify a nuclear reactor but
the scale is beyond comparison. This verse taken together with the rest of the verses on cre-
ation lays down the foundation for the deep ecological insights of the Qur’ān. An apprecia-
tion of this would lead us to address the environmental concerns of today at their root.

Fatarah – echoes of the big bang

In the Qur’anic narrative, “The stars and the trees all bow down in prostration (to Al-
lah)” (55: 6), we draw the conclusion that the natural world works because it is in submission
to the will of the Creator. “The sun and the moon both follow exact paths” (55:5) and by this
mode of submission the celestial bodies give us warmth, the seasons, the tides, and the myri-
ad other benefits that accrue to us by their acts of submission. Then “He (Allah) created man
and taught him comprehension” (55: 3) so that man’s submission would be an act of consid-
ered worship. The Qur’an tells us that a stable, harmonious environment is the result of the
natural world obeying the laws of creation to remain in balance (mizan). “He (Allah) created
heaven and established the balance, so that you would not exceed the balance” (55: 7, 8).
Everything is held together for us but we are the only sentient beings in creation who can
through the very gift of reasoning choose not to be in submission, and destroy everything
around us by our presumed ingenuity. And “He created man from a drop of sperm and yet he
became an open challenger” (16:4). This geological epoch is now coming to be known as the
anthropocene – the human specious has now become a force of nature.
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We understand from this that as the Earth’s systems work and remain in balance they
are in submission (in Islam) to the will of the Creator. As the only intelligent beings who can
give meaning to this, humans needed to be reminded of their responsibilities; so, the Qur’an
says, “He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth and everything in between them, so wor-
ship Him and persevere in His worship ...” The word the Qur’ān uses for worship is ‘ibadah
and this has a wide meaning in that it does not confine itself to ritual. In its narrowest sense it
means the five daily ritual prayers and in its widest it means being always conscious of one’s
responsibilities to the rest of creation. In this sense caring for the environment and protecting
it from abuse is an integral part of worship.

The five daily prayers which are offered in the direction of Mecca are reminders.
These prayers have a cyclical pattern, and each cycle contains a standing, bowing, prostrat-
ing, and sitting position. The dawn prayer contains two cycles, the noon prayer four, the af-
ternoon prayer four, the dusk prayer three and the final night prayer four. Each prayer starts in
a standing position. The following verse from the Qur’an is said at the beginning of the
standing position in the first cycle, “I have turned my face to Him who originated the heavens
and the Earth, a pure natural believer …” (6:79).

In the translation of “originated” we again encounter the term fatarah; as discussed

earlier, it emerges from the root F T R from which the following terms also emerge (Kassis
1983, 451) –

Futur – a rent, fissure, flaw: “… return thy gaze; seest thou any fissure? (67:3).
Tafattara – to be rent asunder: “... the heavens well nigh are rent above them” (42:5).
Infatara – to split open, be cloven asunder: “… when heaven is split open” (82:1).

The Qur’an is telling us that creation occurs by splitting like the seed that splits to produce
plant life and like the sperm that splits the egg to produce sentient life forms. When the
Qur’ān says that Allah “… originated the heavens and the earth …” could it be telling us that
the universe came into existence when the heavens were rent asunder? The big bang perhaps?
This is a matter to ponder over.

The Signs

The term in the Qur’an used to describe the verses it contains is āyah (plural āyāt). It
means signs. This term is also applied to everything in the natural world, as in “There are
signs on the Earth for people with certainty” (51:20). There are also signs of the Creator in
the self, “and in yourself as well. Do you not then see?” (51:21). This would allow us to say
that abusing the natural world and one’s self is not a great deal worse than doing the same to
the Qur’an itself. As Nasr (1968; 94, 95) observes –
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In Islam the inseparable link between man and nature, and also between the sciences
of nature and religion, is to be found in the Qur’an itself … As such it is both the
source of the revelation which is the basis of religion and that macrocosmic revelation
which is the universe. It is both the recorded Qur’an … and the Qur’an of creation …
which contains the “ideas” or archetypes of all things. That is why the term used to
signify the verses of the Qur’an or āyah also means events occurring within the souls
of men and phenomena in the world of nature.

These verses indicate the integration of the soul with the cosmos. In times gone by when hu-
man beings did not differentiate between the self and the natural world nature was integrated
into the human psyche. There was no separate environmentalism. Having once been uncon-
scious environmentalists we now need to become conscious of the fact that we are deeply and
irrevocably interwoven into the fabric of the natural world, that we are causing it grievous
bodily harm and that we have to contend with the consequences of our actions. We need to
relearn what the sources, the Qur’an and the Sunna of the Prophet, tell us about creation, the
Creator’s expectation of us and the responsibilities we have to shoulder. There is a way out of
this dilemma and our approach involves two layers. The first is a layer we will call Knowl-
edge of Creation (Ilm ul Khalq) and the second the Rules Governing Islamic Environmental-
ism (Fiqh al Bi’ah) which can alternatively be referred to as Islamic Natural Resources Man-
agement.

The Qur’an describes the creational process in many ways and the first revelation4
came in the following words from Archangel Gabriel to Prophet Muhammed, “Read: In the
name of your Lord who created; Created man from clots of blood” (96:1, 2). In recounting
this episode Özdemir (2003, 7) reminds us that the prophet responded by saying he didn’t
know how to read; tradition has it that he was not literate. There was also no text to read but
this as Özdemir observes signifies a completely different way of looking at the world. “The
key notion is that this reading should be in the name of our Sustainer” who gives existence
and meaning to everything else. This reading is from the texts available in the natural world.
All life emerges from the Creator and all natural phenomena are to be read as if they were
from the book of the Creator. The revealed Qur’an signposts us to the ontological Qur’an
thus:

The cosmos: “It is He who appointed the sun to give radiance; and the moon to give
light, assigning it in phases; in the alteration of night and day and what Allah has cre-
ated in the heavens and earth there are signs for people who have awareness (10:7,
7)”.

Domestic animals: “And He created livestock. There is warmth for you in them, and
various uses and some you eat” (16:5).
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Animals from water: “Allah created every animal from water, some of them go on
their bellies, some of them on two legs and some on four. Allah creates whatever He
wills …” (24:45).

Every living thing is part of a community: “There is no creature crawling on the earth
or flying creature, flying on its wings, who are not communities like yourself” (6:38).

Water: “And We send down water from the sky And make every generous species
grow in it” (31:10).

Plants and crops: “It is He who produces gardens, both cultivated and wild, and palm-
trees and crops of diverse kinds” (6:141)

The Qur’an also reminds us:

Allah sends down water from the sky
And by it brings the dead earth back to life.
There is certainly a Sign in that for people who hear.

There is instruction for you in cattle.

From the contents of their bellies,
From between dung and blood,
We give you pure milk to drink,
Easy for drinkers to swallow.

And from the fruit of the date palm and the grapevine
You derive both intoxicants and wholesome provision.
There is certainly a Sign in that for people who use their intellect.

Your Lord revealed to the bees:

‘Build dwellings in the mountains and the trees,
And also in the structures which men erect.

Then eat from every kind of fruit

And travel the paths of your Lord,
Which have been made easy for you to follow.
From inside them comes a drink of varying colours,
Containing healing for mankind.
There is certainly a Sign in that for people who reflect.
(16: 65 – 69)
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The Doctrine of Divine Unity

Tawhid
Tawhid is the doctrine of divine unity. It is the foundation of Islam and it is the first of
the five articles of faith to which all Muslims subscribe. Understanding the primary aspect of
Tawhid leads us to the recognition that the Creator is One and His creation is a unified whole.
It is the essence of Islam and it is the first expression on the tongue of every Muslim and a
constant reminder of faith. This expression, shahada, is in two parts. The first - La ilaha illal
lah (there is no God but God)5, an affirmation of the unity of the Creator from which every-
thing else flows; and the second part - Muhammadur Rasulullah (Muhammad is the Prophet
of Allah) whose example we follow.

Tawhid has three dimensions:

Tawhid ar Rububiyyah – belief in Allah the one and only Creator.
Tawhid al Asma was Sifat – belief that the names and attributes of Allah are uniquely
His alone.
Tawhid al Ibadah – belief that only Allah is worthy of worship.

We have dealt with the third dimension, Tawhid al Ibadah, in the previous section under Fa-
tara and we will now look at the first and second dimensions.
Tawhid ar Rububiyyah
The chapter al-Ikhlas, Sincerity, in the Qur’an lays down the basis for the understand-
ing of Tawhid ar Rububiyyah -
Say: He is Allah, the One.
Allah the Eternal.
He neither begets nor is He begotten.
And no one is comparable to Him.
(112: 1-4)

This is the bed rock of Islamic monotheism and is at the heart of the Qur’anic message. As
Nasr (1985, 311) observes:

At the heart of the Qur’anic message lies the full and plenary doctrine of God as both
transcendent and immanent, as both majesty and beauty, as both the One and the
Source of the manifold, as both the Origin of Mercy and the Judge of all human ac-
tions, as the Originator and Sustainer of the cosmos and the goal to which all
beings journey, as the supra personal Essence beyond all creation, and as the personal
Deity Whose Will rules over all things, Whose love for knowledge of Himself is the
cause of creation, and Whose Mercy is the very substance of which the threads of His
creation are woven.
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There is in Islamic theology a line of thinking that attempts to describe the nature of
God. The term tanzih is used to describe God’s otherness and distance from the human and
tashbih to describe similarities and closeness. The first is akin to transcendence and the sec-
ond to immanence.

The perspective of tanzih affirms God’s oneness by declaring that God is one and God
alone is Real. Hence everything other than God is unreal and not worthy of considera-
tion. God’s single reality excludes all reality. In contrast, the perspective of tashbih
declares that God’s oneness is such that his one reality embraces all creatures. The
world, which appears as unreality and illusion, is in fact nothing but the One real
showing his signs. Rather than excluding all things, God’s unity includes them. (Mu-
rata and Chittick 1915, 70-74).

God is both incomparable, transcendent (tanzih), and also capable of being compared,
immanent (tashbih), with the created world. Some caution is advocated in this approach be-
cause of the fear of shirk. This is the total taboo of associating or comparing anything else
with Allah. It is the “unforgivable wrong action of worshipping something or someone other
than Allah or associating something or someone as a partner with Him” (Bewley 1998, 21). It
is observed that without tanzih nature would literally be God and without tashbih the signs of
God could not appear in nature (Upton 2006, 21). The Qur’an deals with this in the following
manner:

Tanzih (Transcendence)

God has no earthly connections with the flesh. “He neither begets nor is He begotten”
(112: 3).

He is ever wakeful He ensures that the world functions for us. “It is He Who origi-
nates and regenerates (nature). He is the ever forgiving ever loving …” (85: 13, 14).

He is incomparable. “There is nothing like Him. He is the all hearing all seeing” (42:
11)

Tashbih (Immanence)

God is everywhere and He is constantly in your presence, “Both East and West belong
to Allah, so wherever you turn is the face of Allah …” (2: 115).

He is closer to you than you think and He is aware of every secret in your soul, “We
created man and we know what his soul whispers to him. We are nearer to him than
his jugular vein” (50: 16).
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He surrounds everything. “What is in the heavens and the earth belong to Allah. Allah
encompasses all things” (4: 125).

Tawhid al Asma was Sifat

This is the second of the three dimensions that define the doctrine of divine unity; it
describes the attributes of the Creator and the names by which He is known and which are
uniquely His. Islamic theologians have defined seven attributes contained in the Qur’an (Sur-
ti 1990, 101-108). They are:

Hayat (Life) - He has life, “Allah, there is no God but Him, the living, the self sus-
taining. He is not subject to drowsiness or sleep …” (2: 255).

‘Ilm (Knowledge) “Do you not see that Allah knows all that is in the heavens and the
earth?” (58: 7).

Qudrah (Power) - “… am I to desire other than Allah as Lord when He is the Lord of
all things?” (6: 164).

Iradah (Will) - “Lord of the throne, the All-Glorious. Doer of what He will” (85:
15-16).

Sam’ (Hearing) - “He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing” (6: 13).

Basr (Seeing) – “Vision cannot perceive Him, but He takes in all vision. He is the All-
Penetrating, the All-Aware” (6: 103).

Kalam (Speech) - “He spoke directly to Moses” (4: 164).

Allah is both transcendent and immanent, “He is the first and the last, the Outward
and the Inward; He has knowledge of all things” (57: 3). Prophet Muhammad is reported as
having said in a hadith6, “Allah has ninety nine names, that is, one hundred minus one. Who
so ever counts them and believes in their meanings and acts accordingly will enter Paradise.”7
There are ninety-nine terms in the Qur’an known as the al Asma al Husna, the most beautiful
names, “To Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call on Him by them …” (7: 180).
These names range from the purely transcendent like Ar Rahman (The Compassionate), Ar
Rahim (The Merciful), Al Quddus (The Divine) through names that manifest immanent quali-
ties like Al Wadud (The loving), Al Latif (The Gentle) and Ar Ra’uf (The Kind).

“Among the divine Names revealed in the Qur’an is al-Hayy, the “Ever Living” or,
quite simply “Life.” Eaton (2006, 340) explains:
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Since the Creator lends His attributes (and names) to everything that He creates, there
can be nothing in existence that does not possess a kind of life, even if we do not un-
derstand in what sense to take this. Like all other rigid distinctions which apply in this
world, that between the animate and inanimate is provisional, not absolute.

The three dimensions of Tawhid are uniquely integrated. “Know yourself to know
your Lord” is a common saying among Muslims but this knowing comes from knowing your
Lord. It is a virtuous circle - the more one knows one’s self, achieved through an understand-
ing of the names and attributes of Allah, the more one knows Allah. Islam in its totality
amounts to live life in complete harmony with the Divine reality in its essence, “Praise be-
longs to Allah the Lord of the worlds” (1: 2); its names, “He is Allah the Creator, the Origina-
tor, the Giver of form” (59: 24); and its attributes, “Do you not see that Allah knows all that is
in the heavens and the earth?” (58: 7).

Responses to Change

Environmental ethics and eco-justice

Allah “gives each thing its created form and then guides it” (20: 50); the guiding prin-
ciples for life on Earth are clearly stated in the Qur’an. The basis of Islamic social action is to
establish the good and prohibit the bad. “Let there be a community among you who calls for
what is good, urges what is right and forbids what is wrong; those are the ones who have suc-
cess” (3: 104). This establishes a caring relationship with the natural world. Conservation in
Islam is associated with good behaviour, which is the principle by which Muslims are ex-
pected to be conducting their affairs and managing their surroundings. “Eat of their fruits
when they bear fruit and pay their due on the day of their harvest. And do not be wasteful. He
(Allah) does not love the wasteful” (6: 141).

The human species is the primary beneficiary of the Creator’s handiwork. The Qur’an
asserts “… be thankful …” (45: 12) as “He has subjected all that is in the heavens and the
earth for your benefit as a gift from Him …” (45: 13). But Creation is not a playground as
“We did not create heaven and earth and everything between them as a game” (21: 16). There
was a purpose in creation since “We did not create the heaven and the earth and everything
between them to no purpose” (38: 27). This purpose is to test believers: “… He wanted to test
you regarding what has come to you. So compete with each other in doing good” (5: 48).

Khalifa is the name given to someone who deputizes for or stands in for someone else
(Bewley 1988, 12). This is usually substituted by the terms such as steward, guardian, suc-
cessor, and other similar expressions; “It is He who appointed you khalifs on the earth” (6:
165). The Creator “… offered the trust to the heavens, the earth and the mountains, but they
refused to take it on and shrank from it. But man took it on. He is indeed wrong doing and
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ignorant” (33: 72). The enormity of this trust is expressed metaphorically: the heavens and
the earth and the mountains refusing to undertake it. And yet, there is a seeming paradox in
this. The humblest of God’s creation—“The creation of the heavens and the earth is far
greater than the creation of mankind” (40: 57)—has been given the weightiest of all respon-
sibilities. This could be seen as the price we pay for the gift of intelligence: “He created man
and taught him understanding” (55: 3), which is the exclusive privilege of the human race,
giving our species the capacity to communicate and make changes to the environment.

‘Adl (justice) is the principle upon which we are required to execute this trust: “…
weigh with justice and skimp not in the balance. He set the earth down for all beings. With its
fruits, its palm trees with clustered sheaths …” (55: 9, 10, 11). The role of Khalifa is then a
sacred duty handed down to the human race, as no other sentient being in creation can per-
form this role. We are required to care for and manage Earth in a way that conforms to God’s
intention in creation: it should be used for our benefit without causing damage to the other
inhabitants of planet Earth who are communities like ourselves (see below). The relationship
we have over the natural world is not a right to do as we please but a responsibility which
carries with it the burden of accountability. The discharge of our responsibilities should be
tempered by justice and kindness with the intention always to do good. This is ihsan, doing
what is pleasing to Allah Who is ever present and ever watchful; the ultimate reward is good-
ness itself. “Will the reward for doing good be anything other than good?” (55: 60).

What we now refer to as Islamic environmentalism was a natural way of life when
Muslims lived in a way that emulated the example of the Prophet. The Prophet is regarded as
the Qur’an walking. The following verses demonstrate how he exemplified this.

On waste – “… and do not be wasteful. He (Allah) does not love the wasteful (6:
141). The Prophet discouraged any wasteful action amongst his companions as this hadith8
shows:

When the messenger of Allah passed by Sa’d as he was performing his ablutions he
said, “What it is this extravagance?” Sa’d asked, “Can there be any extravagance even
in ablution?” The messenger of Allah replied, “Yes, even if you are on the bank of a
flowing river.”

The Qur’an emphasizes the value of trees and other vegetation, “… the stars and the
trees all bow down in prostration (to Allah)” (55: 6). The lesson that is driven home by the
Prophet regarding this is contained in the following hadith9 -

Those amongst you who plant a tree or sows seeds that ultimately benefits a bird, or a
person or an animal, is regarded as having contributed a charitable gift.
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The Qur’an states on the treatment of animals, “There is no creature crawling on the
earth or those that fly, who are not communities like yourself” (6: 38). The following hadith
is a narration about an incident near a well10:

A thirsty man went down a well to quench his thirst. On his return to the surface he
saw a dog licking mud to quench its thirst. The man felt sorry for the dog and re-
turned to the well and came back up again with some water for the dog in his shoes.
The companions asked the Prophet about the merits of this action and if there was
recompense for serving the dog. The Prophet replied that there was a reward in serv-
ing all living beings.

These examples demonstrate the depth of the material in the texts, and remind us of
how much has been lost. The task now is not just to reexamine the material, but to present it
in such a manner that it could be readily understood, absorbed, and applied. This work has
been pioneered by the UK-based Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science
(IFEES/EcoIslam)11 which has designed a teaching template which is called Ilm ul Khalq
(Knowledge of Creation). This template is based on the following four themes or principles:

Tawhid – the principle of Divine Unity

Fitrah – the principle of Primordiality
Mizan – the principle of Balance in Nature
Khalifa – the principle of Human Responsibility

In addition to providing literature on this model IFEES/EcoIslam has pioneered workshops

worldwide,12 the results of one of which we shall now examine.
Misali – the sacred island

The population of Zanzibar is almost entirely Muslim and it is part of the United Re-
public of Tanzania. It is composed of two main islands, Unguja and Pemba. The latter, fa-
mous for its cloves, is the smaller of the two and lies north of Unguja. The Misali Island Ma-
rine Conservation Area (MIMCA), which was the location of our project, lies off the west
coast of Pemba and is flanked on its other side by mainland Africa. MIMCA is 22 sq. km. in
area and has at its centre a small uninhabited island of coral rag known as Misali. This island
is forested and is surrounded by some of the finest coral slopes in the entire Indian Ocean. It
is also a turtle nesting ground.

Local people claim that Misali derives its name from a corruption of the word masalla
which means prayer mat. Tradition has it that in times gone by a Muslim holy man lived on
this island and that he treated the island like his mosque. It is now a base camp for fishermen
who work in the area. Apart from its practical uses, they tend to treat it with reverence in
memory of the mystic who once dwelt on the island. This would partly explain why the fish-
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ing community supported by local people resisted efforts by a hotel chain to turn the island
into a tourist resort.

Fishing in this conservation zone provided direct livelihood support to an estimated

11,500 people on the island of Pemba, scattered over thirty six villages. The problems these
people experienced were the classic ones familiar to traditional communities worldwide.
They are an expanding population with rising expectations, low employment opportunities,
depleting resources, and threats from industrial development, in this case tourism.

Additionally, this area of the Indian Ocean is not free from the scourge of overfishing
by fleets of international trawlers equipped with the latest fishing technology; they have
caused drastic depletion of fish stocks. This in turn has forced local fishermen to dynamite
the coral reefs which act as spawning grounds for the fish that provided them with the protein
they needed. Given a choice between alleviating hunger and long term conservation the use
of dynamite appeared to be the option that resolved their immediate problems. This was the
last desperate resort for some fishermen in the struggle to maintain the level of their ever-
dwindling catches.

It was becoming apparent that many years of trying conventional conservation prac-
tices was not having the desired effect. As the situation appeared to be deteriorating IFEES/
EcoIslam was invited by CARE International (an American based NGO) to develop an Islam-
oriented environmental education programme among the fishing communities, religious lead-
ers, and government officials, and to canvass the support of local institutions to enhance the
management and protection of MIMCA. This part of the project was funded by the US-based
MacArthur Foundation. It was seen as supporting a community-run (Chernala 2002, 31-34)
protected area initiative to reduce illegal fishing practices, promote awareness among the
fishing communities, and emphasize the importance of sustainable practices within the desig-
nated conservation zone. This project was also supported by World Wide Fund for Nature In-
ternational (WWF) and the UK-based Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC).13

IFEES/EcoIslam’s training programme was spread over a period of thirteen months

from November 1999 to January 2001. The resource used for the introductory workshop in
1999 was a pack of 24 photographic slides accompanied by an instruction manual known as
Qur’an, Creation and Conservation (Khalid 1999).14 Workshop participants included fisher-
men, local government officials, madrasa (Qur’an school) teachers, senior government offi-
cials at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources, and senior members of
the Mufti’s Office. These workshops were a great success and representatives of the in-
ternational NGOs who participated in them were of the view that the use of the Qur’an as a
teaching resource has had the result of sensitizing stake holders to conservation issues
overnight compared with the poor results achieved over previous years using standard con-
servation approaches. The fishermen stopped dynamiting the coral reefs almost immediately.
 !14

The initiative was known as the Misali Islamic Environmental Ethics Project. Its objec-
tives were to
(a) Explore Islamic environmental stewardship principles
(b) Sensitize marine resource users to the Islamic conservation ethic and
(c) Implement these teachings within the parameters of an integrated conservation and
development project bearing in mind sustainability issues.

In one of the brainstorming sessions towards the end of the workshop the participants identi-
fied responsibility, moderation, conservation, stewardship, trusteeship and kindness as
the core messages that were inherent in the material that they were working on. The partici-
pants also identified a wide variety of choices in regard to the methods of dissemination and
the groups and institutions that should be targeted. They ranged from Friday sermons for
adults, to lessons in the Qur’an schools for children. Other methods of dissemination pro-
posed were a poster campaign, local radio, and street theatre. There was also a request for a
guide book (Khalid and Thani 2008) which could be used by imams as a basis for sermons,
by teachers both in main stream and Qur’an schools and also by community leaders for their
own edification.

This is probably the first time ever that a body of knowledge from the Qur’an on cre-
ation, which we refer to as Ilm ul Khalq (see under Signs in Sacred Earth, above) and devel-
oped by IFEES/EcoIslam was used to positive effect anywhere. A second layer to this was
essential and that was an implementation framework, alongside that of the technical parame-
ters, that was needed to enable this initiative to succeed. This is the emerging body of law
within the shariah15 now being referred to as Fiqh al Bi’ah (see under Signs in Sacred Earth,
above) which was used to complete the project. It was proposed that MIMCA be designated a
hima in accordance with the conservation and sustainability principles embodied in the ma-
trix of shariah law.

The hima is a flexible conservation management system that enables the establish-
ment of land and marine conservation zones in designated areas. Hima means a place that is
guarded or one that is forbidden to enter. In practice a hima could broadly be defined as a re-
serve or a conservation zone. It is pre-Islamic in origin, dating to when powerful tribal lead-
ers reserved pasture and grazing land for their exclusive use and allowed only limited access
to others. The Prophet abolished these practices when he established the first hima in Islam
pronouncing “There are no reserves except for Allah and His messenger” (Dien 2000), mean-
ing that himas were for the people.

This initiative in Zanzibar was a pioneering project in the sense that it is possibly the
very first time in the modern world that Islamic environmental themes were used by a com-
munity of people to protect their own resources through behavioural change. 16 While it
brought to the surface recognition of the wide gap that has opened up between behaviour and
knowledge of the texts, it also demonstrated the speed and effectiveness with which they
 !15

could be taught to good effect in real life situations. But this story is not over yet, as Misali
Island is now part of the Pemba Channel Conservation Area (PECCA), a major regional
project supported by the World Bank. Whether the fisherman of Misali will be allowed to
continue with their newfound faith in Islamic environmental ethics is a question we have all
been asking.

Some Concluding Thoughts

Muslims now live like the rest of the human race, willingly or unwillingly, in a hege-
monic secular-driven regime. The challenge now facing Muslims is how to implement the
teachings and practices of their worldview within an institutional framework that has a fun-
damentally opposing outlook. This is not a rejection of materialism; Islam is not anti-materi-
alist, “It is He who created everything on this earth for you” (2: 29). But we have breached
the limits that had held us back from our overindulgence: “Do not overstep the limits, Allah
does not love people who overstep the limits” (5: 87). The Qur’an and the practice of the
Prophet provide us one vital boundary that has been defined for us thus, “Those who practice
usury will not rise from the grave except as someone driven mad by Satan's touch" (2: 274).
The Qur’an prohibits usury/interest which would make it impossible for the fractional reserve
banking system to control all our lives as it does today.

We are all in thrall to the banks, and "There is something quite magical about the way
money is created. No other commodity works quite the same way. The money supply grows
through use; it expands through debt. The more we lend, the more we have. The more debt
there is, the more there is" (Kurtzman 1993). This discussion is for another time and another
place. Suffice it to say that the evidence for this is unfolding in front of our very eyes as a re-
sult of the recent ruinous global banking crisis. Our analysis leads us to the inevitable conclu-
sion that the looming global environmental collapse is a direct result of the system of finan-
cial intermediation which supports our global civilization. The Qur’an teaches that we can -
and must - do otherwise in our financial structures: for our communities and for the wellbeing
of our environment, Allah’s creation, for which we are responsible.

References

Bewley, Aisha, 1998. Glossary of Islamic Terms, London, Ta Ha.

Chernela, Janet M and others, 2002. Innovative governance of fisheries and ecotourism in
community based protected areas. Parks vol. 12 no. 2 local communities and protected areas
2002. International Conservation Union (IUCN), Cambridge, Geneva.

Dien, M. Izzi, 2000. The Environmental Dimensions of Islam. Lutterworth, Cambridge UK.
 !16

Eaton, Gai, “Remembering God”, 2006. In The Book of Nature: A Source Book of Spiritual
Perspectives on Nature and the Environment. Edited by Camille Helminski. Bristol, England,
The Book Foundation.

Kasis, Hanna E., 1983. A Concordance of the Qur’an. Berkley, University of California Press.

Khalid, Fazlun M., 1999. Qur’an, Creation and Conservation. Islamic Foundation for Ecolo-
gy and Environmental Sciences, Birmingham, UK.

Khalid, Fazlun and Thani, Ali Kh., 2008. Teachers Guide Book for Islamic Environmental
Education: Promoting conservation in Misali Island, Zanzibar. Islamic Foundation for Ecolo-
gy and Environmental Sciences, Birmingham, UK.

Kurtzman J., 1993. The Death of Money. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.

Murata, Sachiko and Chittick, William C., 1996. The Vision of Islam. I.B. Tauris, London.

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, 1968. Man and Nature – The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man. London,
George Allen and Unwin.

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, 1985. “God”. In Islamic Spirituality: Foundations, edited by Nasr,
Seyyed Hossein. SCM Press, London.

Özdemir, Ibrahim, 2003. “Toward an Understanding of Environmental Ethics from a Qur’an-

ic Perspective”. In Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust, edited by Richard Foltz, Frederick
M. Denny and Azizan Baharuddin. Harvard, Harvard University Press.

Surti, Muhammad Ibrahim H. I., The Qur’an and of Al-Shirk (Polytheism). London, Ta Ha.

Tarnas, Richard, 1996.The Passion of the Western Mind. Pimlico, London.

Upton, Charles, 2006. “The Signs of God in Mathematics and Geometry: An Islamic Perspec-
tive”. In The Book of Nature: A Source Book of Spiritual Perspectives on Nature and the En-
vironment, edited by Camille Helminski. Bristol, England, The Book Foundation.

Further Reading
Ahmad, Ali, 2001. Cosmopolitan Orientation of the Process of International Environmental
Law Making: An Islamic Law Genre. Lanham: University Press of America. The author
makes a case for international environmental law making with a particular emphasis on Is-
lamic law.

Arberry, Arthur J., 1972. The Koran Interpreted. London: oxford University Press. “This ver-
sion gives many readers a fresh and exciting glimpse of the original”.

Bagadeer, A.A and others, editors, 1994. Environmental Protection in Islam. IUCN Environ-
mental Policy and Law Paper No. 20, second revised edition. Gland, Switzerland and Cam-
bridge, UK. First published in 1983.
 !17

Foltz, Richard, 2005. Environmentalism in the Muslim World. New York: Nova Science. An
excellent introduction to environmental activism in the Muslim world.

Khalid, Fazlun and O’Brien, Joanne editors, 1992. Islam and Ecology. London: Cassell. An
introductory work.

Sachiko Murata and William C. Chittick, 1996. The Vision of Islam. London, I.B. Tauris. An
excellent introduction to Islam itself written by two university lecturers.

Richard Foltz, Frederick M. Denny and Azizan Baharuddin editors, 2003. Islam and Ecology:
A Bestowed Trust. Harvard, Harvard University Press.

A comprehensive introduction to the Islamic environmental ethic.asr, Seyyed Hossein, 1968.

Man and Nature – The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man. London, George Allen and Unwin.

Ibrahim Özdemir, 2008. The Ethical Dimension of Human Attitude towards Nature – A Mus-
lim Perspective, Insan Press, Istanbul. An excellent introduction to understanding the ethical
and philosophical roots of our current environmental problems.

Suleiman, Majda K. and others, editors, 2012. Towards an Implementation Strategy for the
Human Integrated Management Approach Governance Systems: Theories, Concepts,
Methodologies, Case Studies and Action Plans. Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research. A
comprehensive theoretical and practical treatment of the land management system in Islam
with a focus on the hima system. See http://www.kisr.edu.kw/pubs/en/conf-sem-sym/
HIMAProceedings.pdf. Accessed May 2016.

Biographical note

Fazlun Khalid is Founding Director of the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmen-
tal Sciences (IFEES/EcoIslam). He was named one of fifteen leading eco-theologians in the
world (Grist magazine 24 July 2007) and listed among the “500 Most Influential Muslims in
the World” by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan. He was the recipient of
the 2004 award for Excellence in Engineering, Science and Technology by the London- based
Muslim News for developing a scientific approach to Islamic environmental practice.

——————————
 !18

1 “Qur’ān” is the phonetic spelling of Islam’s holy book which replaces the anglicized “Koran” in this essay. It
is generally accepted that the essence of the Arabic Qur’ān cannot be translated into any other language. To as-
sist us with its nuances we have had recourse to the following translations: (a) Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy
Qur’ān. A standard work first published in1934, commonly available in numerous imprints. (b) Arberry A.J.,
The Koran Interpreted, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1955. Recognized for its rhythm and consistency. (c)
Muhammad Asad, The Message of The Qur’ān, Dar Al-Andalus, Gibraltar, 1980. Gives access to wider sources.
(d) Bewley, A and A, The Noble Qur’ān, Bookwork: Norwich, 1999. A modern translation – very readable but
watch out for the slight modifications in the numbering system. (e) Abdul Halim, M.A.S., The Qur’ān, Oxford
University Press, 2004. Another modern translation. (f) Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the
Glorious Qur’ān, Government Central Press, Hyderabad, Deccan, India, 1938. Another classical translation
alongside Yusuf Ali’s. The numbering system in the Yusuf Ali translation is used when quoting references to the
Qur’ān. The chapter and verse numbers are given in parenthesis. The names of the chapters have been left out as
there are minor variations from one translation to another.

2For an exposition of fitra from a perspective of human nature see Mohamed, Yasien, 1996. Fitrah: The Islamic
Concept of Nature. London, Ta Ha.

3
The word used in the Qur’ān for religion is deen which in essence describes an integrated code of behaviour
which deals with personal hygiene at one end of the spectrum and to our relationships with the natural world at
the other. It provides a holistic approach to existence, it does not differentiate between the sacred and the secu-
lar and neither does it place a distinction between the human world and the world of nature.
4 Arberry observes, “These revelations were supernaturally received, in circumstances of a trance like nature,
over a considerable number of years intermittently …” See Arberry, Arthur J., 1964. The Koran Interpreted.
London, Oxford University Press.
5 The terms God and Allah are used interchangeably.
6 Report of a saying, teaching, or action performed by Prophet Muhammad. There are six collections of hadith
literature accepted by Islamic scholars.

7 Sahih Bukhari 52, 910. See http://ahadith.co.uk/searchresults.php?page=1&q=99+names&rows=10. Accessed

January 2017.

8Sunan Ibn Majah, 2, 425. See http://ahadith.co.uk/searchresults.php?pto at aage=3&q=wudu+river&rows=10.

Accessed January 2017.

9Sahih Bukhari 40, 518. See http://ahadith.co.uk/searchresults.php?page=3&q=trees&rows=10.

Accessed January 2017.

10Sahih Bukhari 45, 656. See http://ahadith.co.uk/hadithsearchfilter.php?id=1&q=thirsty+dog+panting. Ac-

cessed January 2017.
11 See www.ifees.org.uk. Accessed May 2016.
12 See http://www.ifees.org.uk/trainingstory/. Accessed May 2016.
13This was one of the projects that received the Sacred Gift for a Living Planet award at a WWF international
gathering in Nepal, in 2000.
14Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental sciences, 1999. Qur’an, Creation and Conservation. See
http://www.ifees.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/1380144345.pdf.Accessed May 2016.
15 The basis of Islamic law and jurisprudence.
16 For a documentary made of this project see - http://video.pbs.org/video/1874606186/. Accessed May 2016