islam and environmental protection

With the increased ability of technology and demand to bring balance in the environment resources the international community realized that seeking help from religion in the protection of the environment and recovery of the harms could be instrumental. Islamic view in regard to sustainable development is dividend and the two factors below strengthen this research.

First, Islam and laws shall cover the economic, social, cultural, and political issues.

Second, some experts who recently brought the instances of sustainable development in the western societies have proved the civilization of Islam as the reality for sustainable development.

Islam shows a route to life which is a comprehensive vision for the life of humans and its relations to the environment. Without any doubt, humans are part of the universe and all other elements are complementary to the universe, but humans have special relations to other elements of nature, the relation of using resources and development.

Humans are the heir of the earth, thus far, in addition to being part of the universe, humans are implementers of God’s orders. Islam has intervened in all issues and has set rules to all issues, this does not mean that for all themes an absolute order had been set for issues of the modern world.

The issue of environment is also one of which, where there is no certain order in Islam, but without any doubt, there are issues mentioned such as water, earth, cleanliness and uncleanliness, fire and other issues are mentioned in Quran and the prophet sayings which can help extract precise regulations about the environment.

“The issue of environment might have been brought to discussion in 20 or 30 years, but the concept of the environment exists 1400 years ago in Quran. Most of the Quranic verses relate to the concept of environment.  Quran has mentioned issues of husbandry, exploring plants and trees, and other issues that relate to human life and the environment. There are revelations in Quranic verses which spell out the importance of plants, planting saplings, and forests as well as husbandry. Islam also has a lot of saying about all these topics which need a lot of thinking and considerations. In fact, the aim of Islam emphasizing the key elements of the environment and their protection is mainly for the betterment of humans and fulfilling their needs- both for current and future generations. Islam advises humans to pay attention to themselves and the environment. Islam forbids causing harm to anything…”

God has bestowed many blessings on his creatures and the human shall not squander or be unthankful. Muslims are obliged to obey the order of the Quran and the Prophet’s sayings and adapt their lives and environment in accordance with the orders. Humans shall use the resources fairly and not be lavish so that the coming generations are not deprived of the privileges of a good life. They should not think that everything is there is for this generation and time. The future generations have the rights on earth, water, air, plants, and other stuff and humans shall not squander in the use of resources to avoid that the future generations will curse the current generations. 

In the verse 61 of Hood God says: [Translations] “It is He Who hath produced you from the earth and settled you therein” In addition water has been mentioned as the key manifestation of nature which must be protected from pollution as Islam has asserted. The below verse of the Quran mentions the importance of water in human life.

In verse 30 of Al-Anbia God says: [Translations] “…And We have made from water every living thing…” so the life of animals, plants, and humans are concerned to water. On the other hand, Islam states that there is no harm in Islam, based on which there is no permission of harming one or more person and the prophet peace be upon him strictly forbidden harming others. In modern days, harming the environment is equivalent to harming the safety of society. The environmental disaster that humans are facing now, could be addressed through Islam with its specific definition of nature and the world, and through ethical correction and improvement of raising humans, the issue of environmental degradation could be addressed.

The objective of the aforementioned issues is not to return to the past, but a warning that we shall not use means as our vision. Economics, Physics, and technology are essential elements of life but we shall not live for them.

The solution to the environmental crises is in the religious values in which the concept of relations of humans with nature and the authority of humans in the use of resources could be redefined. It means that humans as gardeners shall act wisely to enrich and prosper their environment instead of destroying it.

Inviting people to protect the environment without religious support will not be effective, that is why we shall make efforts to address the factor of degradation of the environment in view of religion.

Given the aforementioned clarifications, if the protection efforts are based on religious rules, the implementation will be effective and stable and there is no doubt that in the near future the knowledge of environmental protection will glow as other educational and academic fields.