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Environmental ethics in Islam:principles, violations, and futureperspectivesAli Mohamed Al‐Damkhi a

a Department of Environmental Sciences , College of HealthSciences, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training(PAAET) , PO Box 9989, Salmiyah 22100, State of KuwaitPublished online: 19 Feb 2008.

To cite this article: Ali Mohamed Al‐Damkhi (2008) Environmental ethics in Islam: principles,violations, and future perspectives, International Journal of Environmental Studies, 65:1, 11-31,DOI: 10.1080/00207230701859724

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International Journal of Environmental Studies,Vol. 65, No. 1, February 2008, 11–31

International Journal of Environmental StudiesISSN 0020-7233 print: ISSN 1029-0400 online © 2008 Taylor & Francis

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journalsDOI: 10.1080/00207230701859724

Environmental ethics in Islam: principles, violations, and future perspectives

ALI MOHAMED AL-DAMKHI

Department of Environmental Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), PO Box 9989 Salmiyah 22100, State of Kuwait

Taylor and FrancisGENV_A_286137.sgm

(Received 12 December 2007)10.1080/00207230701859724International Journal of Environmental Studies0020-7233 (print)/1029-0400 (online)Original Article2008Taylor & Francis0000000002008AliMohamed Al-Damkhiaboanas58@hotmail.com

The aggressive manipulation of the natural resources in Kuwait and the destruction of the southernArab marshes in Iraq, are two recent environmental disasters in the Arabian Gulf region. This paperelaborates some important principles of environmental ethics in Islam and shows some examples forwhich development of new Islamic thoughts in environmental ethics seems to be essential. As thereare common futures with shared possibilities and common threats with equivalent adverse outcomes,the whole process of self-correction needs the input of the West and of Christian views on theenvironment also. Given the global impact of the environmental crisis, international cooperation isurgently needed to avert environmental dangers which need not arise and environmental dangerswhich already exist but which must be mitigated and avoided.

Keywords: Kuwait; Iraq; Arab marshes; Oil well fires; Environmental ethics; Islam; Christianity; Natural resources

1. Introduction

1.1 The catastrophe of Kuwait’s oil wells

The environmental manipulation of natural resources, mainly crude oil, for hostile andmilitary purposes has been clearly practised on 24 February 1991 when Iraqi forces applied ascorched-earth tactic before their withdrawal from occupied Kuwait [1]. A total of 755Kuwaiti oil wells sustained damage (about 86% of which were either burning or gushing) forabout eight months [2]. Various sources estimated that an amount of 156 million barrels ofcrude oil were released into the desert covering a surface area of 50 km2 [3,4], and approxi-mately 70–100 million cubic metres of natural gas per day were released to the atmosphere[5,6]. Some experts claimed that Kuwait lost 3% of its total reserves [7].

The consequences of such eco-terrorism were disastrous. The burning oil lakes releasedlarge amounts of organic vapours into the atmosphere and carried a risk of undergroundwater pollution [3]. The massive ground fire did a considerable amount of harm to its ecosys-tem by damaging the soil and severely reducing its protective layer, which accordingly

Corresponding author. Email: aboanas58@hotmail.com

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becomes subject to increased erosion and associated problems. We have discussed the effectson the environment in a previous paper (2007) [1]. About 15–25% of the desert vegetationwas uprooted, trampled, and destroyed over the course of the 1991 Desert Storm war [8].More than 60% of Wafra agricultural area was covered with black soot and oily mist fromraging oil fires. The agricultural production in the region was excessively damaged due toacid rains resulting from the high daily emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide fromthe fires, the emissions being estimated to reach a maximum of 10,000 tons per day [9].

The Arabian Gulf’s ecosystem was not safe in the least during the Gulf War. An estimated11 million barrels of crude oil, which created an oil slick that covered thousands of squarekilometres, were intentionally released to the Gulf during the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait[10]. The Gulf was believed to be 43 times more polluted than any equal area of water in theworld [11]. More than 1280 km of Kuwait and Saudi Arabian beaches were oiled and marinewildlife was overwhelmed [10]. Along with the migratory birds, marine turtles were also indanger as most of them either died or had lesions. Other species affected by the oil spillageincluded leatherback and loggerhead turtles, dugongs, whales, dolphins, migratory birds likecormorants and flamingos, and sea snakes [9]. It was also indicated that, the oil spillagedeleteriously affected the fishing industry and disrupted the spawning of shrimps and fish [9].Some people in Kuwait expressed concerns about health problems they partly attributed totheir exposure to oil smoke [12,13], while others manifested a pattern of dissociativebehaviour and anxiety symptoms which impaired and disrupted their social life [14].

1.2 Destruction of southern marshes in Iraq

The destruction of the southern marshlands in Iraq has been documented in a UNEP report[15]. This report reveals that the wetlands, which extended from Basra in the south to within150 km of Baghdad with a core system located around the convergence of the Tigris andEuphrates rivers in Iraq, were considered, until recently, the most extensive wetland ecosys-tems in the Middle East. In their lower courses, the rivers created a vast network of wetlandscovering up to 20,000 km2. These wetlands comprised a complex of tall reeds, seasonalmarshes, dominated by desert shrub and grasses, shallow and deep-water lakes, slightlybrackish seasonal lagoons, and regularly inundated mudflats.

The massive drainage works instigated by Saddam Hussein in southern Iraq during 1980–1990, together with the effects of major upstream damming led to 90% devastation of thewetlands with only minor and fragmented parcels remain today. The central and Al-Hammarmarshlands were almost completely destroyed, with 97% and 94% of their respective covertransformed into bare land and salt crusts. The water-filtering role of the marshland ceasedand the remaining drainage canals carried polluted irrigation wastewater directly toward theGulf, with potentially harmful impacts on local fish resources.

The environmental impact on biodiversity has been catastrophic. There has been the possibledisappearance of endemic species of animals and fish. Several water birds are critically endan-gered, and a further 66 bird species are considered to be at risk. A wide range of migratoryaquatic species have been affected – including shrimp and fish, which migrate between theArabian Gulf and nursery grounds in the marshlands – with serious economic consequencesfor coastal fisheries. Increasing salinity in the Shatt al-Arab estuary (due to upstream hydro-technical works) has also damaged the breeding grounds of another important fish species.

A desk study on the environment in Iraq [16] shows that the entire Marsh Arab communityhas suffered huge social and economic disturbance as a result of the marshland’s destruction,with about 40,000 people forced to escape to southwest Iran and hundreds of thousands

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Environmental ethics in Islam: principles, violations, and future perspectives 13

internally displaced within Iraq. A new study conducted by UNEP [17] indicates that, of theremnant wetlands surviving in 2000, around 33% had disappeared by 2002. UNEP expertspredict that unless urgent action is taken to reverse the trend and revitalize the marshlands,the entire wetland system is likely to be lost within three to five years unless regional cooper-ation is initiated.

The draining by Saddam of the southern marshes and the degradation of the marsh Arabs isan environmental crime which needs to be reversed by the recreation of those marsh areas.Saddam’s regime totally failed to restore and harness the ancient Iraq canal system, destroyedwhile the Mongols invaded in 1215. Its restoration was a development objective in the daysof the British mandate. It was not an objective for any of the following Iraqi regimes.

2. Attitudes of Islam towards the environment

The approach to science and technology which we are advocating is represented by the workof Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817–1898) in India [18]. As he said:

The Qu’ran does not prove that the Earth is stationary, nor does it prove that the Earth isin motion. Similarly it can not be proved from the Qu’ran that the sun is in motion, norcan it be proved from it that the sun is stationary. The Holy Qu’ran was not concernedwith these problems of astronomy; because the progress in human knowledge was todecide such matters itself. It would have been tantamount to confusing the simpleBedouins by speaking to them about such matters and to throwing into perplexity eventhe learned, whose knowledge and experience had not yet made the necessary progress,by discussing such problems. The Qu’ran had a much higher and a far nobler purpose inview. The real purpose of a religion is to improve morality; by raising such questions [asthose astronomy matters] that purpose would have been jeopardized. In spite of all this Iam fully convinced that the Work of God and the Word of God can never be antagonis-tic to each other; we may, through the fault of our knowledge, sometimes make mistakesin understanding the meaning of the Word [18].

The inference from these profound words is that what the Qu’ran and the Sunna indicate onwater’s importance and its conservation is applicable today. The regulation of human life byreligious ethics includes the dimension of the environment; and what the problems of theenvironment make clear is that without a religious approach, there is no reason to do anythingat all about those problems. Since mankind must act, it is necessary to act with morality andgood judgement.

Unfortunately, Muslims have served as convenient scapegoats over the years, beingblamed for all kinds of social and economic ills, including environmental problems. It is firstof all necessary to review briefly and examine some attitudes of the two basic sources ofIslam – the holy Qur’an and Sunna (rules set by the Prophet of Islam Mohamed through thehadiths – his sayings and deeds as recorded by the first Muslims) – towards the environment,natural resources, and the relation between human beings and nature.

2.1 Attitudes towards natural resources

In Islam, it is believed that God has granted all the sources of life and all resources of naturea human being requires, so that he may realize objectives such as contemplation and worship,

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sustainable use, and enjoyment and appreciation of beauty, in addition to securing his basicbiological and ecological needs. The right to use such resources includes an obligation on ahuman being’s part to conserve them both quantitatively and qualitatively [19]. There is noindication in Qur’an or in Hadith that such resources may be usurped by one group of peopleover another for its own solitary use as is done now by some modern ‘developed’ societies.All resources on Earth are considered as a joint-usufruct which should be used and sharedequally between all human beings, as well as all other creatures on the Earth, in accordancewith their material and spiritual needs.

Such equity in sharing must continue now and in the future, so that the planet Earth maynot be endangered nor the interests of its future generations be disrupted or adversely affected[19]. God says: ’And you devour the inheritance (of others) with devouring greed’ (Qur’an89: 19). Hence, the human being has no right to abuse, misuse, distort or exploit naturalresources unwisely, so as to spoil the food bases and other sources of subsistence for livingbeings, or expose them to destruction and corruption [17]. If he does, then there is a price topay for this misbehaviour. According to Ibn Majah, Anas reported that the Messenger ofGod, the Prophet Mohamed, said: ‘If any one deprives an heir of his inheritance, Allah willdeprive him of his inheritance in Paradise on the Day of Resurrection’.

Bagader et al. [19] indicated that ‘While the attitude of Islam to the environment, the sourcesof life, and the resources of nature is based partly on prohibition of abuse, it is also based onconstruction and sustainable development’. This integration of the development and conser-vation of natural resources appears in the idea of bringing life to the land and causing it toflourish through agriculture, cultivation, and construction. God says in the Qur’an, ‘It is HeWho has produced you from the Earth and settled you therein’ (Qur’an 71: 17–18). Also,Bagader et al. [19] mention the approach of Islam toward the use and development of theEarth’s resources. Such an approach was set by Ali ibn Abi-Talib, the fourth Caliph in Islam,to a man who had developed and reclaimed deserted land: ‘Partake of it gladly, so long as youare a benefactor, not a despoiler; a cultivator, not a destroyer.’ The usefulness of nature tohuman beings is spoken of in numerous verses [19]. Human beings are invited to use this pros-pect for good and not to ‘corrupt the Earth’ (fasad fi’l-ard), a phrase often repeated in the Qur’an.

As there is a potential conflict of interest between spiritual and material, man and nature,man and man; God reminded human beings of the balance:

‘The All-Merciful has taught the Qur’an. He created man and He taught him the expla-nation. The sun and the moon to a reckoning, and the stars and trees bow themselves;and heaven – He raised it up and set the balance. Transgress not in the balance, andweight with justice, and skimp not in the balance. And Earth – He set it down for allbeings, therein fruits and palm trees with sheaths, and grain in the blade, and fragrantherbs. Of which your Lord’s bounties will you and you deny?’ (Qur’an 55: 1–12)

2.2 Attitudes towards water

The Qur’an regards water as the source of life and gives great importance to water as anessential element of the ecosystem [20]. God says, ‘We made from water every living thing’(Qur’an 21: 30). And again, ‘And God has created every animal from water: of them there aresome that creep on their bellies; some that walk on two legs; and some that walk on four. Godcreates what He wills: for verily God has power over all things’ (Qur’an 24: 45; see also 25:54). Plants, animals, and man all depend on water for their existence. God has called on manto appreciate the value of this fact: ‘Have you seen the water which you drink? Was it you

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Environmental ethics in Islam: principles, violations, and future perspectives 15

who sent it down from the rain cloud, or did We send it? Were it Our will, We could havemade it bitter; why then do you not give thanks?’ (Qur’an 56: 68–70). God has reminded us,‘Say: Have you considered, if your water were one morning to have seeped away, who thencould bring you clear-flowing water?’ (Qur’an 67: 30). God has also shown us otherfunctions of water. He has made it the habitat of many created beings which play vital rolesfor mankind. God has said, ‘It is He Who has made the sea of service, that you may eatthereof flesh that is fresh and tender, and that you may extract therefrom ornaments to wear,and you see the ships therein that plough the waves, that you may seek thus of His bounty,and that you may be grateful’ (Qur’an 16: 14).

Bagader et al. [19] pointed out many juristic rules concerning Islam’s attitudes towardswater. It is obligatory to safeguard water, for in Islamic law whatever is indispensable tofulfil the imperative obligation of preserving life is itself obligatory. Any action thatobstructs or impairs the biological and social functions of water, necessarily leads to the ruinof life itself, and the juristic principle is, what leads to the prohibited is itself prohibited.Damage of all forms and kinds of water, and perhaps of all other natural resources, is forbid-den in Islam [21]. One of the fundamental principles of Islamic law is the Prophetic declara-tion, ‘There shall be no damage and no infliction of damage’, and, ‘Prevention of damageand corruption before it occurs is better than treatment after it occurs.’ Another of the mostimportant juristic rules is, ‘The averting of harm takes precedence over the acquisition ofbenefits’ [19].

Because water is the basis of life, God has made its use the common right of all livingbeings. All are entitled to use it without monopoly, usurpation, despoilment, wastage, orabuse as mentioned earlier. God commanded with regard to the people of Thamud and theircamel, ‘And tell them that the water shall be shared between them’ (Qur’an 54: 28). TheProphet of Islam said, ‘Muslims are to share in these three things: water, pasture, and fire’. Itis impossible to reclaim the resources we have polluted or destroyed [20]. In light of this wemay understand how significant was the point, the Prophet Mohamed was emphasizing whenhe said: ‘Even if you take the ablutions in a flowing river, do not waste the water‘ and howimportant it is for the preservation of the ecological balance. The Prophet Mohammad used toperform ablution with one mudd of water (equal to 2/3 litre) and used to take a bath with onesa’ up to five mudds (equal to 2–3 1/2 litres). This behaviour of the Prophet demonstrates thelogical approach to sustainable use of water in arid Arabia where the Prophet lived [22].Hence, extravagance in using water is forbidden; this applies to private use as well as public,and whether the water is scarce or abundant [19].

2.3 Attitudes towards animals and plants

In Islamic belief, human beings have certain obligations towards other living creatures. Wewill be responsible on the Day of Judgement for how we have treated these creatures. Theowner of an animal is obliged to feed it and to treat it if it is ill [23]. The Prophet of Islamsaid: ‘God punished a woman because she imprisoned a cat until it died of hunger. Sheneither fed it, nor let it obtain its own food’ [19].

The Prophet Mohamed also declared in a hadith, ‘If any Muslim plants a tree or sows afield and a human, bird or animal eats from it, it shall be reckoned as charity from him’ [19].Even if doomsday was expected imminently, human beings would be expected to continuetheir good behaviour. The Prophet said: ‘If the day of resurrection comes upon anyone of youwhile he has a seedling in hand, let him plant it’ [19]. This hadith, according to Samarrai [24]summarizes the principles of Islamic environmental ethics.

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In another hadith, the Prophet says that: ‘If without good reason anyone kills a sparrow, ora creature lesser than that even, the living creature will put his complaint to God on the Dayof judgement, saying: ‘‘So-and-So killed me for no purpose’’’ [19].

The protection of animals extends, in the Islamic faith, beyond mere physical protection[23]. For example, cursing an animal is unacceptable behaviour in Islam. Ahmed and Muslimhave transmitted a hadith, narrated by Imran, in which the Prophet of Islam, while travelling,overheard a woman cursing a female camel. He reprimanded her, saying: ‘leave it alone, andspare it from your curses’.

Schwartze [25] refers to a recommendation of the first Caliph in Islam, Abu Bakr, to hiscommander as follows: ‘Remember that you are always under the eye of God, behave likemen, do not run away, nor let the blood of women, children or old people stain your victory.Do not destroy palm trees, do not burn houses or fields of wheat, never cut down fruit treesand kill cattle only when you need to eat it’. This recommendation also shows Islam’s viewson animals and plants.

3. Environmental ethics in Islam

The term ‘ethics’ comes from the Greek ‘ethos’. Ethics means ‘rules for behaviour in accor-dance with a system of values’ [26]. According to Yang [27], ‘environmental ethics dealswith the ethical problems surrounding environmental protection, and it aims to provide ethi-cal justification and moral motivation for the issue of global environmental protection’. In theenvironmental debate it has often been argued that what is really needed to solve the currentecological crisis is environmental ethics. Such ‘ecoethics’, according to Ouis [28], wouldprovide guidelines towards ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ actions and attitudes towards nature. Therehave been many attempts to illustrate the underlying environmental ethics of Islam and theactual concrete rules related to the environment, generally recognized as part of Shari’a law.One important attempt is that of Schwarte [25] who notes that the classical judicial doctrineof Islam, expressed by the Qur’an and Sunna, provides for the solution of all legal and moralquestions. In recent decades, it has been realized that the accelerating deterioration of theenvironment is not so much an environmental problem as a human one, and has its roots in adistorted and unbalanced perception of existence [23]. The question arises: is it really thehuman being who accelerates environmental deterioration? If yes, then why? And what is thepenalty? The Qur’an and Sunna provide the answers.

3.1 Human being as ‘khalifa’ on Earth

The definition of the word khalifa, its verbal root and its relationship with our planet theEarth are well illustrated by Lubis [23]. A khalifa is defined as one who takes over a position,a power, a trust, and who holds it reliably and in harmony with its grantor – in this position,Allah or God. The verbal root of khalifa, khalaf, means ‘he came after, followed, succeeded’.A khalifa does not violate the trust or break a rule. Adam, the prophet and the progenitor ofthe human race was appointed by God as khalifa on Earth. Consequently, every man andwomen has inherited power and accountability in relation to the Earth’s resources and all itslife forms. ‘We have honoured the children of Adam and carried them on land and sea, andprovided them with good things, and preferred them greatly over many of those We created’(Qur’an 17: 70). Nevertheless, the khalifa was seen to break the rule and violate the trust, andshowed himself unworthy to be preferred over other creatures.

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Environmental ethics in Islam: principles, violations, and future perspectives 17

This is significant in the light of the angel’s prediction: ‘And lo! Your Sustainer said to theangels: Behold, I am about to establish upon Earth a khalifa. They said: Will you place on itsuch as spread corruption and shed blood whereas it is we who extol Your limitless glory,and praise You, and hallow Your name? Allah answered: Verily, I know that which you donot know’ (Qur’an 2: 30). Of the nine times the word khalifa and its plural are found in theQur’an, seven times it is used in conjunction with the prefixed (fi’l-ardh) which means onEarth, on this planet. In each case it refers to a person, people, or mankind in general, towhom God has entrusted part of His power on Earth. The term has been variously translatedinto English as a successor, deputy, viceroy, and trustee. Lubis [23] added another translationrelated to the role of stewardship. He considered the human race not only as ‘friends of theEarth’, but its guardians and equal partners with everything else in the natural world withadded responsibilities. What human beings are not is its lord and master, in a tyrannical ordictatorial sense.

The word ‘Earth’ (ard) occurs a total of 485 times, a sign of our planet’s importance. TheEarth is described in the Qur’an as being obedient to human beings and as a receptacle [24].Even more importantly, the Earth is considered by Islam to be a source of purity and a placefor the worship of God. This means that the Earth is to be used to cleanse oneself beforeprayer if water is unobtainable. Thus, it is not surprising, according to Samarrai [24], that theIslamic attitude towards the environment is that human beings must ‘get involved’ in order toprotect the Earth, which is a source of blessedness.

3.2 Human beings as trustees

In regard to the concept of khalifa, a related concept is amana or trust. God offered amana tothe heavens, to the Earth, to the mountains – to the rest of creation – but they all refused; onlya human being took the risk of accepting it. ‘Verily, We did offer the amana to the heavens,and the Earth, and the mountains; but they refused to bear it Yet man took it – for, verily, hehas always been prone to tyranny and foolishness’ (Qur’an 33: 72).

A trust entails one who entrusts and a trustee. God offered the trust to the human being,the trustee, and he accepted the responsibility. Man chose the amana by his ability ofchoice and his relative free will, and thus gained the aptitude to live for good or evil. Beinga khalifa on Earth, man must fulfil that trust placed in him by God, through actingtruthfully in agreement with God’s laws, or be false to that trust and spread tyranny andinjustice against God’s Earth and His creation. God says: ‘For He it is Who has made youkhalifa on Earth, and has raised some of you by degrees above others, so that He might tryyou by means of what He has bestowed on you. And thereupon We made you their khalifaon Earth, so that We might behold how you act’ (Qur’an 6: 165). This is confirmed by partof a hadith, reported by Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, that the Prophet Mohamed said: ‘The worldis sweet and green, and verily Allah has installed you as Khalifa in it in order to see howyou act’.

3.3 The role of moderation in Islam

The principles of moderation, balance and conservation are the core of sustainable living.They provide the framework for discrimination, to limit wasteful extravagance, affluence andgreed [23]. The Qur’an guides us to moderation in all things, God says: ‘And We have willedyou to be a community of the middle path’ (Qur’an 2: 143). For Muslims, the path betweenextremes – the middle path – is enjoined on us: ‘For, the true servants of the Most Gracious

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are they who whenever they spend are neither wasteful nor niggardly, but (remember) thatthere is always a just mean between two extremes’ (Qur’an 25: 67).

In a hadith reported by the Prophet’s wife Aisha, the Prophet Mohamed urges us topursue moderation: ‘Practise moderation, and if you can’t practise it perfectly, then strivetowards it as far as possible’. All our actions should be guided by the spirit of moderation,from consumption and production, to the use of natural resources. For moderation isbalance, and its opposite disturbs the balance: ‘And the sky has He raised high, and hasdevised (for all things) a balance, so that you (too, O men) might never transgress thebalance: weigh, therefore, (your deeds) with equity, and do not upset the balance’ (Qur’an55: 7–9).

3.4 Breaking the role of khalifa and a trustee on Earth

The image we get from the Qur’an is of a khalifa who is a trustee on Earth and is responsibleand accountable for his behaviour towards his fellow human kind, all creatures, and theEarth’s natural resources. His purpose is to serve and worship God, by acting in harmonywith His laws, thereby fulfilling his trust and gaining His pleasure. If man abuses his God-given power and violates the laws of God, he brings about his own destruction and severeloss in the future.

The consequence of violating the trust is attested in the Qur’an by the frequent recitationof the histories of the people of Ad and Thamud. Both were powerful Arab tribes in theirtime. Ad were ‘endowed abundantly with power’ and Thamud were ‘settled firmly onEarth’: ‘Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with Ad, (The people of) Iram,possessors of lofty buildings, The like of which were not created in the (other) cities; And(with) Thamud, hewed out the rocks in the valley’ (Qur’an 89: 6–9), but they arrogantlyabused the power given to them by God, and were destroyed by an environmental disaster‘Then as to Thamud, they were destroyed by an excessively severe punishment. And as toAd, they were destroyed by a roaring, violent blast. Which He made to prevail against themfor seven nights and eight days unremittingly, so that you might have seen the peopletherein prostrate as if they were the trunks of hollow palms. Do you then see of them oneremaining?’ (Qur’an 69: 5–8).

For those over-urbanized and rich nations, the Qur’an carries a warning. Pharaoh, thepeoples of Madyan, in addition to Yajoj and Majoj, were all influential and prosperous butspread oppression and corruption on the Earth, and thus destroyed themselves [23]. Theyare described repeatedly as the mufsidin fi’l-Ard, ‘transgressed all bounds in the land’(Qur’an 89: 11–12). The mufsidin fi’l-Ard, those who spread fasad (corruption,degradation, and ruin) on Earth abused the trust (amana) and are in clear contrast to thekhulafa fi’l-Ard, God’s trustees on Earth. Lubis [23] indicated that the relevance of theirstories to present-day man – truly clever with overwhelming power and so firmly settledon Earth – is alarming. God says: ‘Do not spread corruption on Earth after it has been sowell ordered, (for) Behold what happened in the end to the spreaders of ruin’ (Qur’an 7:85–86).

Finally, the answers to the questions raised in the end of section 3 are evidenced in a versewhich emphasizes the destruction created by mankind in relation to the Earth. This is inter-preted by Ouis [28] as a description of man’s responsibility for the modern environmentalcrisis: ‘Mischief (fasad) has appeared on land and sea of the meed that hands of men haveearned. That God may give them a taste of some of their deeds, in order that they may turnback from evil’ (Qur’an 30: 41).

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Environmental ethics in Islam: principles, violations, and future perspectives 19

3.5 Principles of environmental ethics in Islam

The 1960s and 1970s witnessed a general sense of environmental catastrophe, brought aboutby industrial civilization. This crisis was composed of environmental pollution, resourceshortages and ecological disparities. Yang [27] indicates that this caused widespread socialanxiety. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) [29] revealed the life-threatening nature ofchemical pesticides and questioned the dominating concept of conquering nature. PaulEhrlich’s The Population Bomb (1968) [30] brought to light the pressures that the populationexplosion put on nature. The first report on Limits to Growth (Meadows et al., 1972) [31]sounded a warning against the falsehood of limitless growth. Earth Day was born in the USAin 1971, with a huge demonstration against pollution by campaigners for conservation of theEarth’s resources. In the same year, Greenpeace launched its campaign against nuclearweapons and in favour of the environment. The first United Nations environmentalconference, held in Stockholm in 1972, symbolized the universal rise of environmentalconsciousness.

While Yang [27] sees those events as paving the way for the birth of environmental ethics,Ozdemir [20] believes that environmental ethics were born 1400 years ago as a logicaloutcome of the Qur’anic understanding of nature and man. This is a helpful idea to Muslimsconcerned with environmental problems, and should be more widely reflected in the Muslimcommunity (umma) worldwide.

The principles and arguments advanced by Islamic scholars such as Lubis [23], Samarrai[24], Ouis [28], and Nasir [21] in developing environmental ethics and a doctrine ofenvironmental protection essentially are based on a re-reading of the Qur’an and Sunna. Thecornerstones of a generally agreed Qur’anic conceptual framework may be summarized asfollows.

● The biodiversity of the natural world and the richness of the ecosystem, which has beencreated by God have inherent, ecological and utility values for humankind both as spiritualsustenance and material resource.

● Nature has been created in order, balance and with extraordinary aesthetic beauty, and allthese aspects of nature while enhancing man’s life here, should be honoured, developedand protected accordingly.

● Human beings, though being at the top of creation, are only members of the community ofnature. They have responsibilities towards the whole environment, just as they haveresponsibilities towards their families.

● Humankind comprises trustees and the vicegerents of God on Earth, khalifa, and thereforeall people will be accountable and judged for their actions related to the environment.

● Humankind’s rights over nature are rights of sustainable use, of usufruct, based on moder-ation, balance, and conservation; with a similar and equal right for future generations.

● Nature’s rights over humankind include the rights to protection from misuse, degradationand destruction. Greed, affluence, extravagance, and waste are considered a tyrannyagainst nature and a transgression of those rights.

● All patterns of man’s production and consumption should be based on an overall order andbalance of nature. The rights of man are not absolute and unlimited. Human beings cannotconsume and pollute nature as they wish, carelessly.

● To prevent the appearance and emergence of corruption in ecosystems, to preventcorruption on Earth (fasad fi’l-ard) is one of the primary responsibilities of all believers.Thus, Muslims everywhere must become eco-conscious to be true believers.

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4. Current and future environmental dangers

The environment is expected to face, in addition to the existing degradation, future dangers,especially in the Middle East, which may surpass any previous. These degradations anddangers, which cross international borders, urge us to think globally and to take thoughtwithin the perspective of environmental ethics in Islam.

4.1 Militarism as a major threat to life on Earth

War is destructive of human life, non-human life and the environment. The enormousdestruction of the environment caused by military actions across the world is the toughest tocure, because it comes out of human aggression, human fear, human envy, human will, and ahuman idea of man’s superior intellect which relies too greatly on instrumentation and othertechnology which is not always fail-safe, or error-proof. The military industry is among themost heavily polluting industries. The arms race not only wastes Earth’s limited resources,but also leads to a lack of trust among nations [32]. According to Wilson [32], some countrieshave annual military budgets of more than 40 billion US dollars, while to save the tropics,where 70% of non-human species live, would require only 30 billion US dollars. The inten-tional creation of security threats by any nation, driven by military-industrial corporategroups, must be robustly opposed by people of goodwill. Smith [33] argues that both SaddamHussein and President George Bush are guilty of environmental terrorism during the 1991Gulf War, and their confrontation in such War reveals that the greatest danger facing ourplanet in the future may be the threat of ‘ego-terrorism’. Eco-terrorism and ego-terrorism area powerful, annihilating force. If humanity is to survive the century, Smith [28] believes thatthe protection of the regional and global ecosystems must rank higher in importance than thepride of individual regimes or the survival of any one nation’s version of a ‘New WorldOrder’, and the cost of any war should be deducted from each nation’s military budget.

4.2 Environmental injustice

Yang [27] takes the view that unfair social frameworks uphold and strengthen environmentalinjustice, with the result that the lucky always enjoy the benefits of the environment while theunlucky bear excessively the burdens. The right to a secure and liveable environment is oneof the basic human rights, which everyone and every state has an obligation to protect. Inregard to international environmental injustice, Ouis [28] gives the following example. Themultinational companies often practise a double environmental standard; one associated witha ‘green image’ in their activities in the rich North, and another, an environmental damagingpractice, in the South. An example is the oil company Shell, which promotes itself in richcountries as having great environmental concerns. At the same time the company’s activitiesin Nigeria have caused the annihilation of human and natural habitats and the abuse of basichuman rights. This has led Ouis [28] to argue that wealthy nations can ‘’buy’ a clean environ-ment. In a global perspective, it seems that the rich countries can have a sound environmentat the expense of the others, where the pollutant production is located and the naturalresources (the raw materials) are exploited, destroying both nature and traditional cultures.

Ouis [28] sees the new trend by wealthier nations to dump hazardous waste in developingcountries for a small sum of money in compensation as a mocking example of the how globalenvironmental problems cannot be solved within the present economic system. He alsomentions that the system of international emissions trading allows countries or companies to

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Environmental ethics in Islam: principles, violations, and future perspectives 21

purchase less expensive emissions permits from countries that have more permits than theyneed. This is, according to Ouis [28], a free market approach promoted by the US in theKyoto negotiations, which is another example of how the rich nations can buy off environ-mental responsibilities at the expense of other, developing nations. This profitably (to some)displaces moral responsibility and burdens others – but also in one way or another burdensthose who seek to displace their responsibilities. Such conflicts are often hidden. This is aconsequence of the weakening of the moralist environmental movements. Yang [27], whosupports an urgent signing of an agreement on global environmental justice, urges thedeveloped countries to change their policies of transferring heavily polluted industries todeveloping countries, to stop exporting hazardous waste to developing countries and toamend the high-consumption lifestyle of their population.

In our view, the rich countries, especially the petrodollar-rich countries, are ethicallyresponsible to help poor countries with their development needs. Robert McNamara,President of the World Bank (1968–1981) described the Kuwait Fund for Arab EconomicDevelopment (KFAED), when first established in the year of its political independence in1961, as without precedent [34]. While welcoming its new-found prosperity, Kuwait wasdeclaring a willingness to share its future wealth with its Arab neighbours. In 1974, the activ-ities mandate of KFAED was extended to developing countries in general. During 40 years(1966–2006), KFAED activities have covered 100 countries on four continents – Asia,Africa, Europe and South America including the Caribbean, where 716 sustainable develop-ment projects have been funded with a total of 3.854 billion Kuwait Dinars (equivalent to13.027 $ billion). All these funded projects, which were environmentally sound according totheir preliminary environmental impact assessment studies, have played an important role inimproving the social, educational, health, economic, industrial, agricultural, infrastructureand sanitary circumstances of the countries concerned. They have been benefited byenlightened self-interest. But to Muslim eyes, this is no more and no less than upholding theobligations of khalifa and amana.

4.3 Damming the headwaters of the Tigris-Euphrates system

As there are 214 rivers in the world shared by two or more states; Tolba, the executive direc-tor of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), has claimed that there is apotential for conflict in the Middle East and all over the world where there are shared butlimited water resources [11].

The Turkish policy of damming the headwaters of the Tigris-Euphrates system is expectedto have enormous strategic implications for the whole Middle East. It will almost certainlyprovoke water wars 50 years from now, or sooner, if only because of the threats to the Kurds(12 millions or so of Turkey’s population, whose historic areas will be among those flooded)and it will worsen the suffering of Palestinians whose land and water have been progressivelystolen with their self-respect by the injustice of Eretz Israel (Gush Enumin) activists, whoexert much dangerous influence on the policy-making of Israel. This injustice must bereversed, and not enhanced by manipulation of environmental resources, including humanresources.

4.4 Global warming and alternatives to oil

Global warming is the most severe challenge confronting the environment and humanity inthe 21st century. Even the United States, which has long denied the true nature of the data,

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now may be seen to be struggling to modify its policies because of those data. According toLubis [23], global warming can be seen, from the perspective of environmental ethics inIslam, as the Earth’s endeavour to maintain a balance in response to the human assaultagainst it. This idea corresponds to the belief of Lovelock in Earth’s interacting feedbacksystems as constituting Gaia [35].

Effective ways of dealing with this problem include reducing greenhouse gas emissions,restoring forests and transforming the structure of the energy system. Ethical debates over theprinciples of distributing greenhouse gas emission quotas are among the most heated in envi-ronmental ethics, although the ‘polluter pays’ principle has been generally accepted [27].There is certainly disagreement over the exact meanings and practical implications of theseprinciples. Yang [27] indicates that some basic points of agreement on internationalenvironmental justice must be reached before the distribution of such quotas can be fruitful.Meanwhile, in an attempt to use ‘clean energy’, Europe’s first commercially operated powerstation using solar energy has succeeded in generating 11 megawatts (MW) of electricity toserve the needs of about 8000 homes in southern Spain without emitting a single puff ofgreenhouse gas [36]. It is true that this power is three times more expensive than powerfrom conventional sources, but prices will go down; as they have with wind power, as thetechnology develops.

On the other hand, countries that produce between 2–3 million barrels of crude oil per dayhave little reason to look anywhere else; especially when the price per barrel is around $100and the dollar is weak. Nevertheless, regard for the environment, the realization that fossilfuel reserves may not last forever, and that a system of renewable energy sources will beneeded in the future have all induced some Gulf States to consider renewable energy options.

As part of its drive to cut dependence on hydrocarbon power generation, Abu Dhabi, thecapital of the UAE which holds more than 90% of the oil reserves of the UAE seven-memberfederation, will build a $ 350-million solar power plant which is expected to begin operationsin 2009 [37]. The plant, which is the first of its kind in the world’s biggest oil exportingregion, is designed to generate 500 MW, and should provide solar power to 10,000 homes.The UAE, which hopes to set up a special economic zone for the alternative energy industry,has an economic development program dedicated to establishing an entirely new economicsector focused on alternative energy and sustainable technologies.

Kuwait, a major oil-exporting country with substantial reserves, adopted an energy policyto reduce consumption of fossil fuels well before a worldwide awareness of global warming[38]. Kuwait’s establishment of its solar energy program dates back to the mid-1970s [39].Such a program, which aimed to commercialize solar energy in Kuwait, concentrated onthree main areas: solar cooling and heating of buildings; solar thermal conversion, andagricultural applications of solar energy. Efforts to use solar energy on a commercial scalewere discontinued, however, as none of their applications were found to be cost effective andaccordingly, due to relevance and benefit to the national environment and economy, energyconservation became of prime interest. According to Al-Ajmi et al. [38], researches carriedout in Kuwait for the period 1983–2001 indicated that a total saving of over 1.5 billionKuwaiti Dinars (equivalent to $ 5.2 billion) and a reduction of CO2 emissions by nearly 13%had been achieved.

According to Janardhan [40], it is expected that by the year 2050, up to half of the UAE’srequired energy will come from renewable resources. Solar energy, the cleanest source inenvironmental terms, is likely to form a large percentage. The Gulf State Countries (GCC)have tremendous renewable energy potential. The Gulf receives more than 300 days ofsunshine in a year, so solar energy is the main source. Though most people consider solar

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energy as an expensive proposal especially in the UAE where power is cheap, the use of solarenergy in the country is slowly increasing and is used, for example, in the parking metres inDubai, in offshore buoys and in solar water heating systems in some hotels. While the initialcost for solar energy is high, solar thermal collectors used to generate hot water in homes,hotels and factories could save millions of dirhams per year in the UAE while reducing emis-sions. Janardhan [40] indicates that the utility bills of a 100-flat apartment complex in Dubai,which is the first building of its kind in the Middle East, have been cut by a third by usingsolar power to cool the building by day. While solar power links in remote desert regionshave increased the coverage area of mobile phones, the use of solar power in telecommunica-tions has reduced over 260 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year as well.

In Saudi Arabia, solar power has been used for oilfield lighting systems, protection forpipelines, advertising signage and traffic signalling. In Iran, it has been used for lightingpublic parks, streets and even to power a water pump to provide water to 700 people in aremote village, which worked even in the snowy winter.

According to Janardhan [40], wind energy, too, is receiving a fair amount of attention.Several areas in the UAE enjoy strong and large amounts of wind such as the east coast,Hatta and the western beach of Abu Dhabi. A minimum wind speed of seven metres persecond is needed to produce power from this source and in most UAE areas the wind speedgoes up to 12 metres per second. The UAE has the capacity to produce an estimated 1000megawatts of electricity every year using wind energy. The UAE has just setup a wind powerplant on Sir Baniyas Island, a wildlife sanctuary off the coast of Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital.This is the first wind power project in the entire Arabian Peninsula.

4.5 Shortage of potable waters

The importance of water in Islam has been discussed earlier in section 2.2. The Middle Eastis confronted with a major environmental crisis. Serious water shortages with increasing needfor water, adding to the problems of pollution, are a growing threat [11]. Given the strongemphasis on equity in Islam, and by examining the current situation in terms of access towater; a UNDP report [41] shows a low coverage of water supply and sanitation services inrural areas of less developed countries (LDCs). In the poor, arid Muslim countries of theMiddle East, the situation is no better. About 20% of the population in developing Muslimcountries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (i.e. Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Leba-non, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen) was without access to safe waterbetween 1990 and 1996, and close to 37% was without access to sanitation during the sameperiod [41]. As the urban growth rate in the MENA is higher than the overall LDC average,informal settlements in and around cities all over the region, according to UNDP report, arerapidly increasing in size. Few of these urban or peri-urban communities receive water andwastewater services, either because the communities were unplanned or because of legal orpolitical restrictions imposed on public utilities [41].

The water availability per capita in the MENA dropped from 3300 in 1960 to 1250 m3/person/year in 1996, and is expected to decline to 725 m3/person/year by 2025. This declineis attributed to the population explosion in the MENA from 92 million in 1960 to about 300million in 1999 [41]. Population in the region is expected to pass the half-billion marks by2025. According to Faruqi et al. [22], reusing waste-water is a vital component of a demandmanagement strategy because it safeguards freshwater for the highest-value uses. Treatingand reusing domestic wastewater has two other advantages: first, reduced environmentalimpacts, and second, improved food production and decreased synthetic fertilizer use

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because of the nutrients contained in the wastewater. Greywater usually means all sources ofdomestic water that have been used once, apart from toilet wastewater (blackwater). Greywa-ter is a resource whose time has come, and political decisions need to be governed by thereality which it represents.

Given the importance of personal cleanliness in Islam, which has detailed rules easilyreferenced in the Qur’an and the Sunna, including wudu, ablution before prayer; and thatmany MENA countries have minimal wastewater treatment, it is common to hear Muslimsassert that waste-water reuse is detrimental, or even haram (unlawful according to Islam). Onthe contrary, Faruqi et al. [22] mention an illuminating case study carried out in SaudiArabia, which concluded with evidence that reusing wastewater is not haram (forbidden),because it will not cause harm or spoilage. After a detailed study, in consultation withscientists and engineers, the Council of Leading Islamic Scholars (CLIS) in Saudi Arabiaconcluded in a special fatwa in 1978 that treated wastewater can theoretically be used evenfor wudu and drinking, provided that it presents no health risk [42].

Except in space travel, it is neither cost-effective nor necessary to treat wastewater to suchan extent that it achieves a quality necessary for drinking, and the Saudi Arabian scholars didnot encourage this practice under normal circumstances. Treated wastewater can certainly bereused in irrigation, following the WHO guidelines [43] devised to care for human health. Theguidelines divide irrigation into two main types; restricted or non-restricted. The necessarywastewater quality, defined in terms of faecal coliform and helminth egg levels, varies depend-ing upon the proposed use of the wastewater. Wastewater used for unrestricted irrigationrequires more careful treatment because it can come into contact with edible crops grown atground level, as well as in sports fields and public parks. Wastewater for restricted irrigation(i.e. of fruit trees, grazing land, and silage crops) requires less treatment, because these can beirrigated with water of lesser quality without posing a threat to human or animal health.

On the basis of the 1978 fatwa, wastewater reuse in Saudi Arabia expanded to a greatextent [22]. In 1995, Saudi Arabia reused about 15% of its treated wastewater for irrigatingdate palms and silage crops, such as alfalfa. Moreover, ablution water at the two holymosques in Mecca and Medina is recycled for toilet flushing, thus conserving costly desalin-ized sea-water. In Kuwait, following the WHO’s guidelines, more than 1700 hectares ofalfalfa, garlic, onions, aubergines, and peppers are irrigated using treated wastewater. InJordan in 1998, 70 million cubic metres of treated domestic wastewater were reused forrestricted irrigation and accounted for 12% of all water used for irrigation in Jordan.

In arid or semi-arid countries, like Oman and Jordan, where the pressure on freshwaterreserves is very severe, and there is a need to reuse each drop of water, new techniques andapproaches are used to take advantage of greywater [44,45]. Experience from overseas, espe-cially in arid and semi-arid countries, shows that greywater can be a cost effective alternativesource of water. Greywater is once-used cleansing water (hand basins, baths, showers, wash-ing machines), and is to be distinguished from toilet wastewater (blackwater) [44]. Greywateris thus of lower quality than potable water (drinking water), but of higher quality than black-water [46]. Greywater has, by definition, relatively low levels of microbiological contamina-tion. Thus it may be safely used as a source of non-potable water. Prathapar et al. [40]showed that 80% of water used in Omani households is greywater, and that it can be used tofurther sustainable development and resource conservation without compromising publichealth and environmental quality. In Oman, where there are about 13,000 communitymosques producing a substantial quantity of ablution water daily [46], it is possible, accord-ing to Al-Jayyousi [47], that a considerable amount of such water could be saved just bydeveloping a knowledge-based simple treatment system.

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Environmental ethics in Islam: principles, violations, and future perspectives 25

4.6 Weapons of mass destruction (WMD)

The last three decades of the 20th century witnessed heavy production and brutal usage ofWMD by many countries in the Middle East and worldwide [48]. Hashmi [48] hasdiscussed the many reasons for which Muslims should reject the propagation and hencethe potentials of any use of WMD. First, nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons do notpermit a level of intolerance between combatants and non-combatants that is required byIslamic rules of war. Second, even if WMD could be employed rigorously against militarytargets, they kill or hurt in such awful ways that they violate Islamic teachings on fightingcompassionately. Third, WMD cause permanent damage to the natural environment, aresult that must be considered in Islamic environmental ethics because all life has worth asGod’s creation quite apart from any utility derived by human beings. ‘There is not ananimal on Earth, nor a bird that flies on its wings, but they are communities like you’(Qur’an 6: 38). Destroying or damaging the natural habitat of species unable to shieldthemselves against human attack constitutes the height of what the Qur’an labels fasadfi’l-ard (corruption on Earth). Fourth, because WMD cannot be used for any ethicallyjustifiable purpose, any expenses to develop and stock them, any resources diverted fromother, constructive purposes, amounts to what the Qur’an and Hadith denounce as israf(waste).

In arguing against the use of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, Hashmi [48]draws attention to Muslim WMD pacifists who do not and should not accept the use of othertypes of weapons traditionally considered ‘conventional’ weapons, including cluster bombs,antipersonnel land mines, or firebombs. These weapons, according to Hashmi [48], are alsoobjectionable on the grounds that they make discrimination between combatants and non-combatants difficult or that they kill and wound in particularly brutal fashion. No one canregard Iran as benefiting from the possession of nuclear weapon which now appears to be apurpose of that country, and the drive to nuclear energy development is only a divertingextravagance and a strategic complication for the region.

5. Discussion

In fact, the Muslim respect for nature and its natural resources is so deep that scholars like theIranian Sayyed Hossein Nasr [49] have argued that the development of technology underIslam was intentionally muted when technology becomes a threat to the natural environment.The two sources of Islamic faith, the Holy Qur’an and Sunna, comprise all the elements neces-sary to develop and construct environmental ethics (as shown previously in section 3.4). Whythen are such marvellous environmental ethics violated by Muslims themselves? And why arethe current degradation and future dangers facing the environment mainly connected withMuslim countries? And what should Muslims do to discontinue this violation ofenvironmental ethics? These three questions need urgent attention from Muslim scholars asfuture dangers and events in Islamic nations, especially in the Middle East, have the potentialto create environmental impacts of major magnitude.

5.1 The environment track record of Muslim countries

As a reaction to the first and second questions above, Ziauddin Sardar [50], one of theMuslim scholars concerned with environmental ethics, diagnosed the environment track

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record of the Muslim countries to be so poor not because of lack of money or appropriatetechnology, but due to a clear gap between the theory of Islamic environment and planning,and the practices that exist in the Muslim world. He attributed such a gap to the leaders andpolicy-makers in the Muslim countries who are separated from their religious and culturalroots and even from their own people. Sardar [50], who classified almost all Muslim nationsas dictatorial regimes of which none could truly be described as ‘Islamic’, believed that aleadership divorced from its people will be divorced from the environment of the people.Such environment will suffer from neglect; and from the gross misuse of money andmanpower.

Similarly, Nasr [51] argues that the Islamic world is not totally Islamic today, and muchthat is Islamic lies hidden behind the cover of Western cultural, scientific, and technologicalideas and practices emulated and aped to various degrees of perfection, or rather of imperfec-tion, by Muslims during the past century and a half.

Ouis [28], who believes in evaluation of environmental achievements of Muslim countriesfrom the perspective of global environmental justice, indicates that most regimes in theMuslim world stick to the modernist development concept, in which economic progress haspriority over other welfare goals. According to this concept, environmental concern is givenless attention and may be postponed until after economic development has already takenplace. And so, the Muslim populations in developing countries today experience a rapid, andsometimes irreversible, destruction of various natural environments.

These nations are specialised in selling their natural resources (often with a heavyeconomic dependence upon a single natural resource), at very low prices in relation to theprices of consumer goods produced in the wealthier industrialized centres. But, manywealthy Muslim states such as the Arab oil producing states have realized the importance of agreen image in the global prestige game. Since the adoption of ecological modernization inthe global ecological discourse, such an image, according to Ouis [28], says little about thetrue environmental awareness and achievements in these countries.

Sardar [50] argues that for the Muslim world the answer to the current environmentaldilemma lies in entirely going forward to the environmental ethics of Islam; in giving a practicalshape to the environmental dictates of the Holy Qur’an and Sunna by producing legislation insuch areas as pollution, conservation and urbanization, and returning to the environmentallyconscious traditions and lifestyles of Islam. This may not be a successful strategy in light ofthe fact that everywhere urban living is increasing, and rural flight continues.

5.2 Iqbal’s thought of ‘biological renewal’

The third question raised in section 5 regarding what should Muslims do to discontinueviolation of environmental ethics could be answered through the views of Sir MuhammadIqbal (1873–1938), the well-known Islamic philosopher, poet and thinker of pre-PartitionIndia. He spoke at the end of The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam [52] of theneed for the ‘biological renewal’ of mankind, an astonishing vision. Iqbal was open tocontemporary science in the 1920s and 1930s, and what was ‘contemporary’ then remainsso to a large extent still, for us in 2007–2008. Biological renewal could mean, according toIqbal, ‘a deep change of heart which reconstructs human resources from their moral foun-dations’; or it could mean ‘a new set of ideas about what man’s relation to his environmentought to be, so that his participation in nature becomes more inventive and less greedy’[52].

Having this vision, Iqbal was totally against religious conservatism. In his words:

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Neither the technique of medieval mysticism nor nationalism nor atheistic socialism cancure the ills of a despairing humanity. Surely the present moment is one of great crisis inthe history of modern culture. The modern world stands in need of biological renewal.And religion… can alone ethically prepare the modern man for the burden of the greatresponsibility which the advancement of modern science necessarily involves, andrestore to him that attitude of faith which makes him capable of winning a personalityhere and retaining it hereafter.

5.3 Development of new Islamic thoughts

It is of extreme importance to develop new Islamic thoughts in environmental ethics. AbuHamid Al-Ghazali [53] described the Holy Qur’an as an ocean. As at the bottom of the ocean,pearls remain hidden, so also are hidden the wonderful meanings behind the Qur’an verseswhich incorporate the necessary elements for developing the new required environmentalethics. Nasir [21] provides evidence that most of the world’s current environmental problemsare rooted in the Islamic faith; hence, Islamic scholars must review the Qu’ranic approach toenvironmental principles. They may do worse than follow the approach of Al-Biruni (973–1048), the scientist and polymath, who studied nature as a devout Muslim who sees the worldas the handiwork of God and considers the observation and study of nature as a religious duty[20]. This is no different from the position of Sir Muhammad Iqbal [52] and Sir Syed AhmadKhan [18].

The current Islamic scholars, while developing the new thoughts, should benefit from thelong experience of Muslim jurists in the allocation of water rights in arid lands which hasgiven rise to an outstanding example of the sustainable use of a scarce resource; an examplewhich is of increasing relevance in a world where resources which were once abundant arebecoming progressively more scarce. Schwarte [25], a Western scholar, shows that Islamicprinciples and law can serve as a plan for alternative political and social models to the societyof Iraq which currently suffers from environmental degradation and social injustice.

As water has always been in scarce supply in many parts of the Middle East [11,54],Islamic jurists must be more concerned to develop rules on its use and conservation asopposed to the protection of soil and air. Islamic principles of water management have beencited as proof for the environmental concern of Islam and its principles have been employedto draw up modern legislation [25]. Thus it is argued that the requirements of modern watermanagement are not only compatible with Islamic law, but that adherence to Islamicprinciples can help to solve existing water problems [22].

The Qur’an’s emphasis on the sacred and metaphysical dimension of the universe shouldlead to a change in the Muslim’s overall image of nature and himself as well. Today, all theseprinciples, according to Ozdemir [20], are awaiting rediscovery and analysis by scholars, sothat a Qur’anic environmental ethic appropriate to meeting the present crisis can be workedout.

In Mahatma Gandhi’s words, let us be the change that we want to see in the world, and letus be the best we can be, to which there is no limit [55].

5.4 Strengthening the collaboration with Christians

Christian minorities in the Middle East are affected by all disturbances and violations of theenvironment that may happen; and besides Christian influence on Western policy-making iscapable of doing good. We are not talking in crude terms about jihad and crusade, but of

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common futures with shared possibilities and common threats with equivalent adverseoutcomes. We are, as Muslims and Christians, in the same leaking boat, and the sea is risingand stormy. This concrete fact should leads to strengthening the collaboration between us.

The Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, of Constantinople, is one of the eminent Chris-tian voices proclaiming the crucial nature of environmental reality in regard to mankind’sone, merged future. The work of Patriarch Bartholomew for the protection of the naturalenvironment, and especially for significant water bodies of the planet is well-documented[56]. He has long placed the environment at the head of his church’s agenda, earning himnumerous awards and the title of ‘Green Patriarch’. According to Chryssavgis [56], no otherchurch leader has been so recognized for his leadership and initiatives in confronting thetheological, ethical and practical imperative of environmental issues in our time as theEcumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Accordingly, his concern withenvironmental matters could suggest that it would be a very creative thing for Kuwait to holda conference or a symposium where the Patriarch could be invited to make a presentation. Heis a man of high quality in a world where quality in general is lacking. His concern with theMiddle East and with the engagement between Christians and Muslims is a function of hisliving in Istanbul and of his being the principal figure for all Orthodox Christians in theworld.

6. Conclusion

Today, at the dawn of the 21st century and in a time of worldwide environmental crisis, Islamcan give those, who believe in its truth a fresh perspective and consciousness of nature, if weare ready to open our hearts and minds to its teaching.

The meanings behind the Qur’an verses which incorporate the necessary elements fordeveloping and constructing new thoughts of environmental ethics in Islam should be redis-covered and reviewed deeply by moderate Islamic scholars. Sir Muhammad Iqbal’s words on‘biological renewal’ must echo in the mind of Muslims. The new developed thoughts of envi-ronmental ethics in Islam should take into consideration the following religious obligations:

● No wastage or over-consumption of natural resources;● No unlawful obstruction or destruction of any component of the natural resources;● No damage, abuse or distortion of the natural environment in any way;● Sustainable development of the Earth, its resources, elements, and phenomena through the

enhancement of natural resources, the protection and conservation of them and of allexisting forms of life, bringing new life to the land through its reclamation, and therehabilitation and purification of the soil, air, and water.

As there are common futures with shared possibilities and common threats with equivalentadverse outcomes, concerned Muslim and Christian scholars should strengthen their collabo-ration in dealing with the existing degradation and future dangers facing the environmentbecause all of us are in the same leaking boat, and the sea is rising and stormy.

In this regard, it is hoped, in due course, there should be a symposium in the Arabian Gulfregion where the Ecumenical Patriarch may make his contribution and where men likeZiauddin Sardar and Sayyed Hosein Nasr can identify points of agreement and needs forcommon, just and justifiable action to avert dangers which need not arise and dangers whichalready exist but which must be mitigated and avoided.

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The fiery thoughts of environmental ethics in Islam mentioned in this paper need to bedirected from within the ummah to the people of the ummah and the lands where theresources of oil, water, sun, etc. need to be seen in the context of environment and future. It isalso hoped that this paper has added to human possibilities, by opening up fact to truth andcalling for justice where injustice had spoiled the environment. That is a worthy objective foranyone who has faith and who believes in the power of love.

Given the global impact of the environmental crisis, international cooperation is urgentlyneeded if we are to overcome it. With its global perspective, the UN plays a key role in initi-ating such international actions. Some of the measures that are recommended to encourageenvironmental ethics research include holding an international conference to bring togetherscholars from different countries for full exchanges and the communication of differentideas; establishing a committee to evaluate major policies and projects that could have a greatimpact on the environment, and to assess the environmental situation in LDCs within theperspective of environmental ethics.

Acknowledgement

The author would like to express his deepest and sincere gratitude to Dr Michael Brett-Crowther (Editor, International Journal of Environmental Studies) for his continuoussupport, guidance and encouragement for the idea of this paper to appear.

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