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An Islamic Perspective, Harfiyah Haleem

(Based on the Muslim Declaration on Nature, Assisi 1976)

We are not masters of this Earth; it does not belong to us to do what we wish. It belongs to God and He has entrusted us with its safekeeping.

The essence of Islamic teaching is that the entire universe is God’s creation. Allah makes the waters flow upon the earth, upholds the heavens, makes the rain fall and keeps the boundaries between day and night. The whole of the rich and wonderful universe belongs to God, its maker, submits to Him and glorifies Him. It is God who created the plants and the animals in their pairs and gave them the means to multiply. Then God created mankind - a very special creation because mankind alone was created with reason and the power to think and even the means to turn against his Creator. Mankind has the potential to acquire a status higher than that of the angels or sink lower than the lowliest of the beasts.

The word ‘Islām’ has the dual meaning of submission and peace. Mankind is a specially honoured creation of Allah. But still we are God’s creation and we can only properly understand ourselves when we recognise that our proper condition is one of submission to the God who made us. We are not masters of this Earth; it does not belong to us to do what we wish. It belongs to God and He has entrusted us with its safekeeping. We bear the burden of responsibility for the way in which we use or abuse the trust of God (amānah).

The central concept of Islam is tawhīd or the Unity of God. Allah is One: and His Unity is also reflected in the unity of mankind, all sprung from the same soul, and the unity of man and nature, all creatures of God. His human trustees are responsible for upholding the unity and balance (mīzān) of His creation, the integrity of the Earth, its flora and fauna, its wildlife and natural environment. We court disaster in this life (dunya) and the next (ākhirah) if we corrupt the balance and harmony of God’s creation around us (‘the environment’).

So unity, trusteeship, balance and accountability (tawhīd, amānah, mīzān and ākhirah), are the pillars of the environmental ethics of Islam. They constitute the basic values taught by the Qur’ān and the Prophet Muhammad and translated into practical injunctions in the Sharī’ah.