Islam and Ecology Bibliography

An ethical system must do two things: It must envision a particular way of life and it must work out a path to the realization of that way of life that is internally consistent, yet workable in the real world. Surprisingly, recent ecological ethics have failed to realize these two components of an ethical system. From Leopold's Land Ethic to Deep Ecology, no coherent ethical system was born. Most of the prevailing ecological ethics suffer from being too abstract or utopian in principle. The dissertation asserts that Islam, as a religion and a way of life, is capable of providing man with a comprehensive ethical system. Islamic environmental values represent the theoretical part while the Islamic Institutions and laws provide the operational component of the ethical system. "Earth as a Mosque" ideal is a proposed concept that combines theoretical and operational principles, and can provide an alternative Islamic environmental ethic. The dissertation deals with major policy conflicts that have arisen in developing agriculture and water resources in Saudi Arabia. Recently, the Kingdom's strategy for achieving selfsufficiency in food commodity has created serious environmental conflicts. Severe groundwater depletion, soil salinity, inefficient use of irrigation technology, lack of land use management and control, and inefficient administrative organization are all symptoms of policy and decision-making conflicts. The assertion is that the integration of Islamic environmental planning principles--derived from the Islamic Shari'ah--with the existing Saudi policies for agriculture and water development can generate many solutions to these problems. Tazkiah, an Islamic alternative to conventional Western "development" concept, is introduced as an integral part of Islamic environmental principles. The dissertation proposes a new Ministry for the Environment in Saudi Arabia. The new Ministry is inspired by the traditional Islamic institution of Hisbah. The consolidation of relevant environmental affairs within the proposed Ministry is a response to the existing sectoral approach dealing with the environmental problems. The proposed Ministry is based on the holistic Islamic approach and the Islamic values of justice, modernation and equilibrium. The proposed ministry is responsible for producing an environmental impact statement based on the Shari'ah injunctions. Kaplan, Jeffrey. “Review of Mawil Izzi Dien’s The Environmental Dimensions of Islam.” Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion 5, no. 1 (2001): 110–12. Khalid, Fazlun. Qur’an: Creation and Conservation. Birmingham, United Kingdom: IFEES, 1999. Khalid, Fazlun, and Joanne O’Brien, eds. Islam and Ecology. New York: Cassell, 1992. This volume includes a significant number of Qur’an and Hadiths references illustrating Islam’s spiritual perspective on nature. Other topics include: ethics and the environment, science, natural resources, trade, commerce, desert reclamation, and notions of conservation in Islamic texts/practices. Kilic, Sadik. “The Message of the Risale-i Nur in the Ecological Context.” Paper presented at the Fourth International Symposium on Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: A Contemporary Approach Toward Understanding the Qur’an: The Example of Risale-i Nur, Istanbul, Turkey, 20–22 September 1998. Kula, Erhun. “Islam and Environmental Conservation.” Environmental Conservation 28, no. 1 (2001): 2–9. Llewelyn, Othman. “Desert Reclamation and Conservation in Islamic Law.” The Muslim Scientist 11, no. 9 (1982): 9–29. Lovejoy, Paul. Ecology and Ethnography of Muslim Trade in West Africa. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2005. Manzoor, S. Parviz. “Environment and Values: An Islamic Perspective.” In Touch of Midas Scientific Values and the Environment in Islam and the West, ed. Ziauddin Sardar, 150–70. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984. Masri, Al-Hafiz. Animal Welfare in Islam. Markfield: Islamic Foundation, 2007. This pioneering modern classic examines the Islamic principles of kindness and compassion toward animals. It compares animal sacrifice as practiced by the world's major religions and highlights the ethical issues that the mass production of meat raises, advocating alternative ways to produce halal meat in an appropriate manner. ________. Islamic Concern for Animals. Petersfield, Hants, England: The Athene Trust, 1987. While lamenting the fact that scripture in all religions has ceased to be taken seriously, Masri utilizes Qur’an and Hadiths extensively. Drawing particular attention to animal consciousness, Masri suggests that animal consciousness, although not like human consciousness, is significantly more than simply instinct and intuition. Masri also elaborates on other important concepts such as the “homogeneous organism” of life and “joint tenancy.” This text is provided in both English and Arabic. _______. “Animal Experimentation: The Muslim Viewpoint.” In Animal Sacrifices: Religious Perspectives on the Use of Animals in Science, ed. Tom Regan, 171–98. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 1986. Masri addresses the moral implications of the religious claim that humans are the apex of value in the world. His essay reflects on animal psyches and communities, humanity’s place in the order of species, and animal welfare (e.g., the preservation of species, fair share in natural resources, Islamic law, traditional slaughter, cruelty to animals, and pain and disfigurement in animal experimentation). McKay, Jeanne E., Fachruddin M. Mangunjaya, Yoan Dinata, Stuart R. Harrop, and Fazlun Khalid. “Practise What You Preach: A Faith-based Approach to Conservation in Indonesia.” Oryx FirstView (2013): 1-7. Abstract: Faith-based teachings on the environment have been identified as a potentially effective form of conservation outreach but one that remains largely untested. Indonesia contains 10% of the world's tropical rainforests and is the most populous Muslim country. A faith-based approach to conservation could therefore yield significant conservation benefits here. Within Islam several key principles in the Qur'an underpin and outline the role of humans in nature conservation. Here, we report on a Darwin Initiative project component that sought to assess the applicability of Islamic teachings to conservation action in West Sumatra. We developed waterconservation-themed sermons that were delivered by project-trained religious leaders in 10 mosques and nine Islamic boarding schools during the holy month of Ramadan. We conducted entry–exit questionnaire surveys to assess levels of concern, awareness and intent to act amongst male (n = 389) and female (n = 479) worshippers. The results revealed that greater attention should be paid to raising awareness of the linkages between Islam and conservation rather than on conservation principles alone, which were already adequately understood. This study provides the first insights into the important role that women could play within a faith-based project. Female respondents demonstrated greater knowledge and understanding of Islamic teachings about the environment and the services provided by watershed forests. They were also more likely to contribute to conservation activities, suggesting that future projects should seek to involve this often marginalized stakeholder group fully, as well as Faith-based teachings on the environment have been identified as a potentially effective form of conservation outreach but one that remains largely untested. Indonesia contains 10% of the world's tropical rainforests and is the most populous Muslim country. A faith-based approach to conservation could therefore yield significant conservation benefits here. Within Islam several key principles in the Qur'an underpin and outline the role of humans in nature conservation. Here, we report on a Darwin Initiative project component that sought to assess the applicability of Islamic teachings to conservation action in West Sumatra. We developed waterconservation-themed sermons that were delivered by project-trained religious leaders in 10 mosques and nine Islamic boarding schools during the holy month of Ramadan. We conducted entry–exit questionnaire surveys to assess levels of concern, awareness and intent to act amongst male (n = 389) and female (n = 479) worshippers. The results revealed that greater attention should be paid to raising awareness of the linkages between Islam and conservation rather than on conservation principles alone, which were already adequately understood. This study provides the first insights into the important role that women could play within a faith-based project. Female respondents demonstrated greater knowledge and understanding of Islamic teachings about the environment and the services provided by watershed forests. They were also more likely to contribute to conservation activities, suggesting that future projects should seek to involve this often marginalized stakeholder group fully, as well as provide practical ways for men and women to transform words into action. Meier, Fritz. “The Problems of Nature in the Esoteric Monism of Islam,” trans. R. Mannheim. In Spirit and Nature: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks, ed. Joseph Campbell, 149–203. New York: Pantheon, 1954. Mikhail, Alan. The Animal in Ottoman Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. In this book, historian Alan Mikhail puts the history of human-animal relations at the center of transformations in the Ottoman Empire from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Mikhail uses the history of the empire's most important province, Egypt, to explain how human interactions with livestock, dogs, and charismatic megafauna changed more in a few centuries than they had for millennia. Including specific attention to the role of Muslim values and practices, the book highlights the importance of integrating Ottoman history with issues in animal studies, economic history, early modern history, and environmental history. ________. Under Osman’s Tree: The Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and Environmental History. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 2017. This book discusses the environmental history of the Ottoman Empire—the longestlasting empire in the history of Islam. Underlying every aspect of the Ottoman Empire’s epic history, from the fourteenth century to the twentieth century, is its successful management of natural resources. Under Osman’s Tree analyzes this rich environmental history to understand the most remarkable qualities of the Ottoman Empire—its longevity, politics, economy, and culture. Musselman, Lytton John. Figs, Dates, Laurel, and Myrrh: Plants of the Bible and the Quran. Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2007. This book celebrates the plants of the scriptures of Abrahamic faiths (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism), including the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Apocrypha, and the Quran. The descriptions include the plants' botanical characteristics, habitat, uses, and literary context. Presenting a variety of quotations and interpretations, this book provides numerous sources for developing more intimate knowledge of plants. Narayan, Rajdeva, ed. Ecology and Religion: Ecological Concepts in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Christianity, and Sikhism. Muzaffarpur: Institute for Socio-Legal Studies, 2003. Nasif, Abdullah Omar. “The Muslim Declaration of Nature.” Environmental Policy and Law 17, no. 1 (1987): 47. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man. Rev. ed. Chicago, Ill.: Kazi Publishers, 1997, c1967. Based on his University of Chicago lectures (1966), this book describes how the positivist tradition has de-ontologized science. Nasr provides a history of the environmental crisis, its intellectual and historical causes, the metaphysical principles of nature, and their application to the contemporary situation. He emphasizes the possibility of remaining true to revelation while also meeting the rigorous demands of intellectual pursuit. ________. Religion and the Order of Nature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Compiled from the University of Birmingham’s Cadbury Lectures (1994), this book gives a historical critique of the orientations toward nature found within world religions and various Western philosophical traditions. Nasr stresses that studying across religious frontiers has the potential to enrich and/or remind one of the sacred encounter with nature. ________. “Islam and the Environmental Crisis.” In Spirit and Nature, eds. Steven C. Rockefeller and John C. Elder, 83–108. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. Taken from an address given at the Middlebury College “Spirit and Nature Symposium” (1990), this text argues that religion has both an ethical and intellectual component. Succinctly elucidating the history of scientific method in both Western and Islamic scholarship, Nasr suggests that the environmental crisis can only be cured through the spiritual healing of humankind. ________. “The Ecological Problem in Light of Sufism: The Conquest of Nature and the Teachings of Eastern Science.” In Sufi Essays. 2d ed., ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, 152–63. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1991. Nasr argues that Islam has served as an intermediary between Western and Eastern epistemologies. This conjunction of thought, expressed best in the Sufi tradition, provides the basis for a qualitative/quantitative science that Nasr believes would unveil the unicity and interrelationship of nature, thereby providing potential solutions to the ecological crisis. ________. “Islam and the Environmental Crisis.” The Islamic Quarterly 34, no. 4 (1991): 217– 34. ________. “Islam and the Environmental Crisis.” Journal of Islamic Science 6, no. 2 (1990): 217–34. Othman, Fadil, and Johan Sohaili. “Man’s Duty to Protect the Environment.” The New Straits Times, 10 December 1998, 2. Ozdemir, Ibrahim. “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s Approach to the Environment.” Paper presented at the Fourth International Symposium on Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: A Contemporary Approach Toward Understanding the Qur’an: The Example of Risale-i Nur, Istanbul, Turkey, 20–22 September 1998. ________. The Ethical Dimension of Human Attitude Toward Nature. Ankara: Ministry of Environment, 1997. ________. Cevre ve Din (Environment and Religion). Ankara, Turkey: Ministry of Environment, 1997. Palmer, Martin, and Victoria Finlay, eds. Faith in Conservation: New Approaches to Religions and the Environment. Washington, DC: World Bank Publications, 2003. This book draws extensively upon joint World Bank and ARC/WWF projects worldwide. It shows, through stories, land management, myths, investment policies, legends, advocacy and celebration, the role the major faiths play in ecological wellbeing. The book explores issues of climate change, forestry, asset management, education and biodiversity protection and does so using the techniques of the great faiths storytelling, example and celebration. Part II offers “Faith Statements on Ecology” by many of the world’s religious traditions. The challenge of living with integrity in a pluralist world underlies the book and it offers models of how diversity is crucial in attempting to ensure we have a sustainable world. Peirone, Federico. “Islam and Ecology in the Mediterranean Muslim Kulturkreise.” Hamdard Islamicus 5, no. 2 (1982): 3–31. Pusch, Barbara. "The Greening of Islamic Politics: A Godsend for the Environment?" In Environmentalism in Turkey: Between Democracy and Development. Fikret Adaman and Murat Arsel, eds. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2005. ________. “The Ecology Debate Among Muslim Intellectuals in Turkey.” Les Annales de l’Autre Islam 6 (1999): 195–209. Quadir, Tarik M. Traditional Islamic Environmentalism: The Vision of Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2013. Focusing on the groundbreaking work of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, this book examines the relevance of traditional Islamic thought and practices for a lasting solution to the current environmental crisis. The book argues that only a revival of the traditional worldview which perceives all entities of nature as signs of God can effectively respond to the crisis our planet faces. Rafiq, M., and Mohammad Ajmal. “Islam and the Present Ecological Crisis.” In World Religions and the Environment, ed. O. P. Dwivedi, 119–37. New Delhi: Gilanjal Publishing House, 1989. Rahman, M. K. “Environmental Awareness in Islam.” MAAS Journal of Islamic Science 2, no. 1 (1986): 99–106. Raskhy, Fruzan. “Ertebat-e ensan va tabi’at az negah-e eslam va Ayin-e Da’o” (The Relationship between Man and Nature in Islam and Daoism). Haft Asman 1, no. 2 (1387/1999): 87–117. Sajoo, Amyn. Muslim Ethics: Emerging Vistas. London, UK: Institute for Small Studies, 2004. Recent political and social events as well as advances in science and technology have posed challenges to the traditional Muslim discourse on ethics. In this book produced by the Institute of Ismaili Studies, the author examines these challenges, and through a critical analysis of the implications of emerging initiatives in political pluralism and civic culture, in bio-medicine and environmental conservatism, considers how the contours of public ethics in Islam may be redefined to provide shared conceptions of the good in pluralist societies. Sardar, Ziauddin, ed. An Early Crescent: The Future of Knowledge and the Environment in Islam. London: Mansell, 1989. This edited volume is divided into two sections: thought and epistemology, and science and the environment. After questioning the epistemological and methodological foundations of modern natural and social sciences, Sardar proposes an Islamization of knowledge that would help develop conceptual categories and values from within Islam. Other essays include: S. Parvez Manzoor, on the crisis of Muslim thought and the future of the Ummah (Muslim community); Seyyed Hossein Nasr, on Islam and the problem of modern science; Hussein Mehmet Ateshin, on urbanization and the environment, and Ayyub Malik, on the recent history and possible future of Muslim cities. ________. “Toward an Islamic Theory of the Environment.” In Islamic Futures: A Shape of Ideas to Come, ed. Ziauddin Sardar, 224–37. London: Mansell, 1985. ________. Touch of Midas: Scientific Values and the Environment in Islam and the West. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984. Schimmel, Annemarie. Islam and the Wonders of Creation: The Animal Kingdom. London: AlFurqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, 2003. Annemarie Schimmel focuses in this book on the extent to which Islamic culture has taken interest in the animal kingdom. The author surveyed the mention of animals and birds by Muslim authors and reviewed such mentions in a number of languages (Arabic, Turkish, Sindi and Persian), especially in works of poetry. Schimmel holds that animals form an important part of the Islamic heritage and that animals can be symbolic for profound spiritual truths. Selin, Helaine, ed. Nature Across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in NonWestern Cultures. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003. This book consists of 25 essays dealing with the environmental knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside of the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Indian, Thai, and Andean views of nature and the environment, among others, the book includes essays on Environmentalism and Images of the Other, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Worldviews and Ecology, Rethinking the Western/non-Western Divide, and Landscape, Nature, and Culture. The essays address the connections between nature and culture and relate the environmental practices to the cultures which produced them. Shafaat, Ahmad. "Ecological Implications of an Islamic View of God, Universe, and Human Beings." Ecumenism 134(1999): 18-21. Shankland, David. Islam and Society in Turkey. Huntingdon: Eothen Press, 1999. Shankland provides a thorough historical background of how Islam functions politically, institutionally, and legislatively in secular Turkey. More specifically, Shankland follows the rise and fall of Erbakan, the leader of the widely-supported Islamist party, as well as other minority groups such as the Alevis and various tarikats (religious orders). This book provides insights into environmental issues through its exploration of the complex relationship between morality, religious and secular agendas, and policy implementation. Shroder, John and Sher Jan Ahmadzai. “Water in Islam.” In Transboundary Water Resources in Afghanistan. Cambridge, MA & The Netherlands: Elsevier, 2016, 361-375. Water in Islam is of the utmost importance, in large part because of its scarcity in so many Muslim countries. Sharia law actually began in pre-Islamic time in relation to water. Issues of Islamic law and equity include rights of thirst and of irrigation, as well as protection of the environment, and water rights under Islam. Water conservation is seen as essential and educating about water through the mosques has been a new effort in some places in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Stewart, Philip J. “Islamic Law as a Factor in Grazing Management: The Pilgrimage Sacrifice.” In Proceedings of the First International Rangeland Congress, Denver, Colorado, August 14–18, 1978, ed. D. N. Hyder, 119–20. Denver, Colo.: Society for Range Management, 1978. Stewart searches for a religiously informed management strategy which would relieve the stress of large flocks of livestock on sensitive lands during Muslim holy times. He describes contemporary problems such as: the lack of diversity in livestock due to a focus on the numbers of sacrificial animals, the problems of human population increase coupled with the breakdown of extended families producing more heads of household and therefore more stock per unit area, and the expansion of grazing lands into forests and agricultural lands. Stewart concludes by offering technical solutions such as improving range management, reducing flock size to only sacrificial animals, improved marketing, and conserving meat to spread out the period of availability. He also suggests religious solutions, however admittedly out of his field, by drawing on the Qur’an, Hadiths, and the history of Islamic law in which he finds the possibility of reducing the number of people obligated to make an animal sacrifice under Qur’anic law. Swearington, Will D., and Abdellatif Bencherifa, eds. The North African Environment at Risk. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1996. Taneja, Anand Vivek. Jinnealogy: Time, Islam, and Ecological Thought in the Medieval Ruins of Delhi. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017. In the ruins of a medieval palace in Delhi, a unique phenomenon occurs: Indians of all castes and creeds meet to socialize and ask the spirits for help. The spirits they entreat are Islamic jinns, and they write out requests as if petitioning the state. At a time when a Hindu right wing government in India is committed to normalizing a view of the past that paints Muslims as oppressors, Anand Vivek Taneja's Jinneaology provides a fresh vision of religion, identity, and sacrality that runs counter to state-sanctioned history. Timm, Roger E. “The Ecological Fallout of Islamic Creation Theology.” In Worldviews and Ecology, eds. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John A. Grim, 83–95. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1993. Timm asserts that the sovereignty of Allah in Islamic creation theology is fundamental to any hermeneutic on the role and duties of human vicegerency (stewardship). He challenges the widespread opinion that monotheistic creation theologies implicitly support exploitation of the environment. He finds that socioeconomic and colonial factors, such as poverty and the influx of Western science and technology with its concomitant secularization, account for environmental degradation found in contemporary Islamic countries. Tlili, Sarra. Animals in the Qur’an. New York & Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. The Islamic tradition has always held animals in high esteem, deserving the same level of consideration as humans. The Qur'an opines that “there is not an animal in the earth nor a flying creature flying on two wings, but they are people like you.” This book examines the status and nature of animals as they are portrayed in the Qur'an and in adjacent exegetical works, in which animals are viewed as spiritual, moral, intelligent, and accountable beings. In this way, the study presents a challenge to the prevalent view of man's superiority over animals and suggests new ways of interpreting the Qur'an. Tolu-e-Islam Movement. “Man and His Environment. In Islam: A Challenge.” Lahore: Tolu-eIslam, 2000. Updated 15 August 2001 http://www.toluislam.com/pub_online/islam_a_challenge/chapter17.htm (cited 14 August 2001). Uslu, I. The Environmental Problems: From Transformation in the Conception of Cosmos to the Ecological Catastrophe (In Turkish). Istanbul: Insan Press, 1995. Wellman, David J. Sustainable Diplomacy: Ecology, Religion, and Ethics in MuslimChristian Relations. New York, NY: Palgrave, 2004. Wersal, Lisa. “Islam and Environmental Ethics: Tradition Responds to Contemporary Challenges.” Zygon 30, no. 3 (1995): 451–59. Wersal surveys ecological works written by Muslim scholars in order to demonstrate the centrality of Qur’an and Sunnah in the Islamic decision-making process. She cites Islam’s emphasis on community and consensus and the synthesis of fact and value in traditional Islamic science as potential paradigms for a world community that faces mounting global environmental challenges. Wescoat, James L., Jr. “Muslim Contributions to Geography and Environmental Ethics: The Challenges of Comparison and Pluralism.” In Philosophy and Geography I: Space, Place, and Environmental Ethics, eds. Andrew Light and Jonathan M. Smith, 91–116. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1997. _______. “The ‘Right of Thirst’ for Animals in Islamic Law: A Comparative Approach.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 13, no. 6 (1995): 637–54. Wescoat outlines the doctrinal underpinnings of the “right to thirst” in Islamic law by utilizing traditional terminology found in the Qur’an, hadiths, and fiqh (jurisprudence) about pollution and purity, as well as historical precedents set in the seventh to the eighth century CE. He highlights the themes of Allah’s beneficence, creaturely dependence on Allah, and the moral imperative for humans to recognize these facts in Islamic law, and examines their relevance in Pakistan and Colorado. With his comparative approach, Wescoat argues that it will be difficult to implement Islamic law in Pakistan due to its colonialist history and politics. Wescoat also suggests that the moral depth of Islamic law can provide a way for Colorado residents to assess the adequacy of their own water laws. _______. “From the Gardens of the Qur’an to the Gardens of Lahore,” Landscape Research 20 (1995): 19–29. Observing the emphasis in Mughal studies on the physical attributes of gardens and paradise, Wescoat hopes to further the study of landscape and religion with his exploration of the relationship between aesthetics and theology. Drawing on Qur’anic garden references, he investigates not only garden form but also the faith and conduct that admits humans into the Garden. Wescoat focuses his attention on the gardens of Lahore, distinguishing between Mughal and Sufi shrine gardens. He argues that while the former is exemplative of Qur’anic descriptions of paradise, the latter is an example of the theological meaning of paradise because of its ability to stimulate religious experience. Wilkinson, John C. “Muslim Land and Water Law.” Journal of Islamic Studies 1 (1990): 54–72. Zaidi, Iqtidar H. “On the Ethics of Man’s Interaction with the Environment: An Islamic Approach.” Environmental Ethics 3, no. 1 (spring 1981): 35–47. Zaidi argues that the ecological crisis is actually a moral crisis and he demonstrates why the ecological crisis warrants an ethic grounded in a religious matrix that acknowledges a law with divine principles. Zaidi concludes by stating that faith in Islam translates into action, through what he terms “the process of decision-action”— a process that encompasses characteristics such as justice, piety, and knowledge.