FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 1

MAJOR PAPER
FAZRIHAN DURIAT
PROGRAM CODE: DSDD
COURSE CODE : SD-200
PERIOD NUMBER: 6
INSTRUCTOR: MOUNIR GHRIBI
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ALIGNING SUSTAINABILITY WITH OBJECTIVES

OF SHARIAH AND ESCHATOLOGY
This world has enough to meet the needs of everybody but not the greed of everybody.

- Mohandas Gandhi1

1) INTRODUCTION
Sustainability involves “balancing people’s economic and social needs with the

regenerative capacity of the natural environment2” and is recognized as an essential

element in the corporate world in order to strike a balance between commerce, social values

and the ecological environment. Similarly, Islam, just like other Semitic religions, advocate

the maintenance of the environment, placing humans as a vicegerent of earth. As much as

humans would want to achieve material success in this temporal world, biblical history has

shown that many humans tend to forget about such this vicegerent role. This major paper

1
The National, The Earth provides enough to meet everyone's needs, 2 March 2011,
https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/the-earth-provides-enough-to-meet-everyone-s-needs-
1.426562, accessed 7 Jan 2020.

2
Rogers, Jalal and Boyd, Rogers P.P., Jalal K.F. and Boyd J.A. 2008, An Introduction to Sustainable
Development, 1st Edition, Glen Educational Foundation, Inc, 42
FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 2

intends to outline the correlation between sustainable development with the laws of the

final revealed religion in the light of the end of times of this temporal world.

2)TAKEAWAYS FROM PREVIOUS PAPERS ON SD

This section summarizes key pointers from previous response papers (“RPs”) of this

module.

a) RP 13
SD is not a natural phenomenon because the world governments have to push it

collectively with support of various other stakeholders. Nevertheless, all SD projects,

whether big or small, have to meet these 3 criteria:

1. Economically and financially viable

2. Capability to protect the environment

3. Social issues properly managed

The solutions through these projects have to be thought through via out-of-the-box

brainstorming. Some key factors affecting SDs are poverty, participation, policy and

good governance and management of natural disasters. Currently, the key issues

mentioned by the authors about SD relate to population, income, urbanization,

healthcare, food production and wild life.

Various ways of indicators and assessments are mentioned to measure the

environment in terms of biological, social and cultural aspects., such as the following:

1. Human development index

3
Rogers P.P., Jalal K.F. and Boyd J.A. 2008. An Introduction to Sustainable Development, 1st Edition, Glen
Educational Foundation, Inc, Chapters 1-7.
FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 3

2. Air, water and land quality index

3. Development diamond - GDP per capita, access to water, life expectancy and

childhood education

b) RP 24
This response paper highlights social dimensions and policies, economics of

sustainability, externalities of sustainability and its valuation, natural resource accounting,

the roles of international financial institutions, international organizations and on crisis,

and conflict resolution amongst societies.

- Social aspects of sustainability is arguably the most important because it touches on

human beliefs, values and government politics. Social values cannot be ignored

because decisions on SDs may impact participation among NGOs, poverty, gender

discrimination and social exclusion of certain tribes.

- The system in United Nations is complex and it comprises six main organs i.e. General

Assembly, Security Council, International Court of Justice, Economic & Social

Council, Trusteeship Council and the Secretariat. The main role is to make SDs

successfully on a global scale, not just in certain regions around the world.

- Conflicts among countries and societies may occur due to greed or limited available

resources. Some SD masterplans may get hindered because of strong protests by certain

tribes living in affected areas. While people need to manage their level of consumption,

more research need to be done to find alternative or increase resource capacity via

cutting-edge technology.

4
Rogers P.P., Jalal K.F. and Boyd J.A. 2008. An Introduction to Sustainable Development, 1st Edition,
Glen Educational Foundation, Inc, Chapters 8-14.
FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 4

c) RP 3
The sustainability development goals (“SDGs”) of United Nations (“UN”) should

focus on eradicating poverty5. The SDGs has a universality concept to reach all parts

of the world via collective effort. Assistance which countries need from one another

include financial support, technological leverage, favorable trade terms and

government support.

In addition, SDGs is important to guide humans in managing the external

environment to achieve biodiversity and conservation. There is also need to reduce

emission of carbon and increase access to safe drinking water. It is quite shocking to

know that the GDP of a country is positively correlated to carbon emission. It was

concluded that there are room of improvements to make SDGs a success, as long as

governments, CEOs and private sectors are willing to put aside their differences and

work together.

d) RP 46
The main agenda of the world economic powers are likely to concern money

fetishism and paper economy. SD can be a secular initiative, hence does not need to have

ethical or religious dimensions. SD is just common sense to an economic man. The global

ecosystem acts as a big machine which serves mankind for centuries. It is time for it to

receive regular maintenance. Nevertheless, many religious experts are proclaiming that the

5
Wilson Centre. The UN Sustainable Development Goals, 7 July 2015,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwGxw5BDsqQ, accessed 7 Jan 2020

6
Daly, Herman. Economics for a Full World, 2014 Blue Planet Prize Commemorative Video Lectures. 16
Aug 2015. https://youtu.be/ZiFBZqRTxX4, accessed 7 Jan 2020.
FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 5

world today is being overutilized due to human greed, hence having an apocalyptic and

temporal vision of the future. Many environmental conservationists also have the same

view, with little hope of reviving the ecosystem to its pristine state.

Nevertheless, it is the job of everybody to do whatever it takes, within their

capacities to co-exist harmoniously with the environment by not wasting and promoting a

green economy by reducing, recycling and reusing.

e) RP 5
It was concluded that the earth has been growing too rapidly7, hence humans should

change their consumption patterns. Although SD was promoted as an ethical movement,

it seems that people no longer care; they are focused to accumulate wealth at the expense

of society and the environment.

It was also noted that the next 20 years8 will be completely unlike the last 20 years.

The following may have happened by then:

- Consumption beyond their means

- Huge gap between price of houses and incomes of humans earning

- Credit and debt expanding more than economic growth

7
Gilding, Paul. TED Talk: The Earth is full. Feb 2012. https://vimeo.com/222565522. Accessed 07 Jan
2020.

8
Martenson, Chris. The Crash Course: The End of Money. A WGBY Production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eidQTDjQ5gw&feature=youtu.be Accessed 07 Jan 2020

30 July 2019.
FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 6

3)SUSTAINABILITY WITH ISLAMIC FINANCE

One of the core concepts to promote SD from Shariah perspective is Maqasid

Shariah (i.e. objectives of Islamic law) which was formulated by an ancient Muslim

scholar, Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. He asserted that the critical preservation of human

well-being (Fazrihan, 2015) is through safeguarding these five (5) areas, namely:

1. Faith / Religion (‫)الدين‬

2. Life (‫)نَ ْفس‬

3. Intellect (‫)عقل‬

4. Lineage / Posterity (‫)نسب‬

5. Wealth (‫) َمال‬

Separately, a Malaysian professor9 mentioned that Islamic Economics advocates

economic stability and resiliency, financial inclusion and real economic activities. This is

also aligned to SDGs focusing on people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnerships. Hence,

Agenda 2030 should consider utilizing Islamic finance tools to facilitate implementation

of SD on a global basis.

4)WHAT IS ESCHATOLOGY?
Eschatology10 deals with the knowledge of end of times before the universe reaches

its annihilation, hence this science explains how major events will unfold before history

9
Shahida Shahimi. Sustainable Development Goals, Maqasid Shariah and Islamic Economics and Finance,
2018 Quarterly Islamic Finance Public Lecture IRCIEF, KUIS-IRTI (held at Dk Hassan Omar Building,
International Islamic University Selangor on 27 February 2018),
http://www.kuis.edu.my/ircief/downloads/20180227/PUBLIC_LECTURE_IRCIEF_SDGs_MAQASID_S
HARIAH_IEF.pdf, accessed 7 Jan 2020

10
GK Communications, Opinion and Editorial - Understanding End Times,
https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/opinion/understanding-end-times/, accessed 5 Jan 2020
FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 7

ends, affecting humans, the economy and the ecological environment. Another source

extended the definition to include11 the “resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment, the

messianic era, and the problem of theodicy (the vindication of God’s justice)”. While

various religions12 (i.e. Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism) have differing

perspectives on this matter, Islamic eschatology will make reference to the Holy Quran and

the ahadith (i.e. saying of Prophet Muhammad ‫ )ﷺ‬with various interpretations of scholars

(i.e. exegesis) who have authentic sanad (i.e. lineage or educational traceability) back to

the prophet ‫ﷺ‬.

An example of a contemporary renowned scholar who has such knowledge is Habib

Abu Bakar Al Adni from the city of Tarim in Yemen. He taught the framework of Islamic

jurisprudence specializing in tahawullat13 (i.e. science of understanding the dynamics of

global landscape and human lives due to e.g. broadening of human knowledge, cultural

transformation, trials and tribulations, prophesy on end of times, etc) based on these main

components on eschatology:

• Nawaqid – the loss of human / ethical values over time

• Naqoid – the commission of immoral behaviors (e.g. lesbianism, theft, mass

murder) will be acceptable to society over time

• Islamic history and jurisprudence

• Early warning signs of earth becoming dysfunctional

11
Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/eschatology, accessed 8 Jan 2020.

12
The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology, Oxford University Press, 2008.

13
Intisari Ma’rifat – Rukun Agama Keempat, https://www.slideshare.net/yogisworo7/materi-dauroh-fiqh-
tahawwulat, accessed 5 Jan 2020. (Note: Contents is written in Malay.)
FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 8

5)WHY ESCHATOLOGY IS IMPORTANT

The science of knowledge is not known to many, however, those who study

Christianity, Judaism and Islam will realize that such knowledge is very crucial for the for

humans to realise the following14:

1. Existence of a divine deity monitoring every action of humans

2. There is hope for everyone in the midst of trouble

3. Every good and evil actions will be repaid

4. This world is not the permanent abode as all souls will return back to the creator

Another contemporary Muslim scholar, Sheikh Imran Hosein15, mentioned that the

the science of Islamic eschatology emerged from the most important hadith recording the

actual meeting of last prophet, Muhammad ‫ ﷺ‬and the arc-angle Gabriel. The conversation

between them covers signs of the last days, including the coming the Armageddon. The

scholar mentioned about the imminent collapse of the global financial system and a great

war. Hence, the knowledge of eschatology will prepare Muslims and devotees of other

religions to face such hardships, knowing that this world is temporal , hence living should

be made worthwhile as everybody’s deeds will be accounted for.

14
David Murray, 6 Practical Reasons to Study Eschatology, 28 September 2012,
https://www.ligonier.org/blog/6-practical-reasons-study-eschatology/, accessed 8 Jan 2020

15
Sheikh Imran Hosein, The Importance of Islamic Eschatology in the Modern Age,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKXmpHCDNCk, accessed 8 Jan 2020
FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 9

6)CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR THE INTERNATIONAL

COMMUNITY
There are several global issues16 which will haunt the international community in 2020.

They somehow triggered the need for SD initiatives to be implemented the soonest

possible, if people still do not realize that. The pressing ones include the following:

• Social unrest. Many people will be frustrated with their current governments.

• Climate emergency. It seems that the climate may have reached an irreversible state

unless humanity collectively try to address this immediately.

• Technology will disrupt human’s right to privacy due to prevalence of big data,

data analytics, artificial intelligence, yet problems such as fake news may also cause

mass confusion.

• Economic imbalance may occur as different nations may embark on discriminatory

trade policies and tariffs.

• Poverty. According to UN Foundation17, two countries were projected to represent

40% of the world’s extreme poverty by 2030. They are Nigeria and the Democratic

Republic of the Congo.

16
David Rothkopf, Global Challenges to Prepare for in 2020, 20 Dec 2019,
https://www.brinknews.com/global-challenges-to-prepare-for-in-2020/, accessed 10 Jan 2020

17
Kaysie Brown, 5 Global Issues To Watch in 2020, https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/5-global-issues-to-
watch-in-2020/, accessed on 11 Jan 2020.
FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 10

7)PROPOSALS MOVING FORWARD

Kaysie Brown, special advisor and Head of Policy Planning of UN Foundation,

mentioned18 that “The year 2020 is the time to move the world closer to sustainable,

equitable, and just future and to set the tone for the decade ahead.”

The United Nations has a special division which handles SD initiatives, some of

which include the following:

• The World in 205019 initiative

• Vision 202020

The World in 2050 initiative is a global project which supports the current UN 2030

Agenda. It is based fact and research to address any challenges in implementing the 17

SDGs by reducing or managing conflicts or maximise synergies among stakeholders. The

six fundamental elements21 to achieve SDGs are the following:

1. Education, gender and inequality

2. Health, well-being and demography

3. Energy decarbonisation and sustainable industry

18
Ibid

19
The World in 2050, https://www.unsdsn.org/the-world-in-2050, accessed on 12 Jan 2020

20
Vision2020 Climate and Sustainability Action Plan,
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnership/?p=25421, accessed at 12 Jan 2020

21
Nature Sustainability, Six Transformations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0352-9?utm_source=SDSN&utm_campaign=5ade8eb184-
EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_03_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2302100059-
5ade8eb184-178775829&mc_cid=5ade8eb184&mc_eid=21a8080b5c, accessed 12 Jan 2020
FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 11

4. Sustainable food, land, water and oceans

5. Sustainable cities and communities

6. Digital revolution

Meanwhile, the Vision 2020 is covered by the Climate & Sustainability Action Plan

whose critical success factors (“CSFs”) are the following:

• Community engagement

• Effective communication

• Unit-level action plans

• Sustainability projects fund

Those CSFs will cover social and financial aspects of resources required to be

mobilised to address climate issues such as levels of greenhouse gases and optimising

buildings to have energy-savings capabilities.

8)CONCLUSION
This world is temporal; Shariah being a Semitic religious law, upholds SD as the

way to go for mankind moving forward for global prosperity. SD covers many scientific

fields and hence cannot be studied in silo. Humans have obligations to the divine due to

their very existence, main job is to maintain this temporal world for economic benefit,

harmonious society and environmental protection. Unfortunately, humans can have that

selfish traits of reaping the current resources for their hedonistic lifestyle, hence, there will

always be power struggle throughout the lives of mankind, making this world apocalyptic.
FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 12

Hence, it is imperative that humans, regardless of their religions, need to recognise the

limitations of resources which will limit economic growth and population growth. With

science and technology, the carrying capacity of the world can be increased but this is not

a permanent solution; we have to revert to our primordial state where the divine has

ordained us to be stewards of this earth, protecting the earth to ensure its existence for the

next generations to utilise. Hence, it is always not too late for humans to work together to

achieve a steady-state economy without compromising the economic, social and

environmental aspects of this temporal world.

The United Nations has been trying its best since its founding back in 1945. As an

intergovernmental organization whose job is to maintain peace and security among nations,

it has also looked into many global pressing issues in which the 17 SDGs will be the main

focus. Surprisingly, ethics, business, sustainability and religion are finding a common focal

point where humans have to work in concert to save their livelihood, their family and their

habitat. It is a crossroad where humans, governments, NGOs, tribes, volunteers, MNCs,

have to make, and the only purpose is to sustain everything and everybody on this earth,

regardless of race or religion.

FAZRIHAN DURIAT INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 13

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Daly, Herman. Economics for a Full World, 2014 Blue Planet Prize Commemorative Video
Lectures. 16 Aug 2015. https://youtu.be/ZiFBZqRTxX4. Accessed 10 Jan 2020

Daly, Herman. Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development, Beacon

Press, 1996.

Gilding, Paul. TED Talk: The Earth is full. Feb 2012. https://vimeo.com/222565522.
Accessed 9 Jan 2020

Martenson, Chris. The Crash Course: The End of Money. A WGBY Production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eidQTDjQ5gw&feature=youtu.be. Accessed
30 July 2019.

Nature Sustainability, Six Transformations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0352-
9?utm_source=SDSN&utm_campaign=5ade8eb184-
EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_03_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term
=0_2302100059-5ade8eb184-
178775829&mc_cid=5ade8eb184&mc_eid=21a8080b5c, accessed 12 Jan 2020

Rogers P.P., Jalal K.F. and Boyd J.A. 2008. An Introduction to Sustainable Development,
1st Edition, Glen Educational Foundation, Inc.

The World in 2050, https://www.unsdsn.org/the-world-in-2050, accessed on 12 Jan 2020

Vision2020 Climate and Sustainability Action Plan,

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnership/?p=25421, accessed at 12 Jan
2020

Wilson Centre. The UN Sustainable Development Goals, 7 July 2015,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwGxw5BDsqQ, accessed 10 Jan 2020