Islam and Ecology
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Publications of the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School Islam and Ecology General Editor: Lawrence E. Sullivan A Bestowed Trust Senior Editor: Kathryn Dodgson Religious of the World and Ecology Series Editors: Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim edited by RICHARD C. FOLTZ FREDERICK M. DENNY and AZIZAN BAHARUDDIN distributed by Harvard University Press for the Center for the Study of World Religions Cambridge, Massachusetts Harvard Divinity School Copyright © 2003 The President and Fellows of Harvard College Acknowledgments All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the following: The series of conferences on religions of the world and ecology Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, "Toward an Islamic Ecotheology," Hamdard Islamicus, vol. l 8, took place from 1996 through 1998, with supervision at the Harvard no. 1, pages 33-49. University Center for the Study of World Religions by Don Kunkel L. Clarke, "The Universe Alive," in Thinking about the Environment,edited by Thomas and Malgorzata Radziszewska-Hedderick and with the assistance of M. Robinson and Laura Westra. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2002. Reprinted by permission of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Janey Bosch, Naomi Wilshire, and Lilli Leggio. Narges Moshiri, also S. Nomanul Haq, "Islam and Ecology: Toward Retrieval and Reconstruction." at the Center, was indispensable in helping to arrange the first two Reprinted by permission of Dcedalus, Journal of the american Academy of Arts and conferences. A series of volumes developing the themes explored at Sciences, from the issue entitled, "Religion and Ecology: Can tthe Climate Change?" the conferences is being published by the Center and distributed by Fall 2001, vol 130, no. 4. Harvard University Press under the editorial direction of Kathryn Mawi] Y. Izzi Dien, "Islam and the Environment: Theory and Practice," Journal of Dodgson. Beliefs and Values, 1997, vol. 18, no. 1, pages 47-58. Reprinted by permission of These efforts have been generously supported by major funding Taylor and Francis Ltd.; http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals. fromthe V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation. The conference organizers James L. Wescoat, Jr., "Landscape of Religion," Landscape Research, 1995, vol. 20, appreciate also the support of the following institutions and indi no. 1, pages 19-29. Reprinted by permission of Taylor and Francis Ltd.; http:// www.tandf.co.uk/journals. viduals: Aga Khan Trust for Culture and Torn Kessinger, for his spe cial assistance with the Islam and Ecology conference, Association of Cover art: 1960.117.4.2.1. Attributed to Mahesh. It's the Day for the Garden! Folio Shinto Shrines, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Dhararn Hinduja 173a from a Divan of Anvari. 1588. Indian. Mughal Period, 932-1274/1526-1588. Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper. 13.97 cm. x 7.62 cm. Folio. Courtesy of Indic Research Center at Columbia University, Gerrneshausen Foun the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Gift of John dation, Harvard Buddhist Studies Forum, Harvard Divinity School Goelet, formerly in the collection of Louis J. Cartier. Photo credit: Katya Kallsen. Center for the Study of Values in Public Life, Jain Academic Founda Image copyright: © The President and Fellows of Harvard College. tion of North America, Laurance Rockefeller, Sacharuna Foundation, Cover design: Patrick Santana I\. Theological Education to Meet the Environmental Challenge, and Winslow Foundation. The conferences were originally made possible Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from the Library of Congress by the Center for Respect of Life and Environment of the Humane Society of the United States, which continues to be a principal co ISBN 0-945454-39-2 (hardcover) sponsor. Bucknell University, also a cosponsor, has provided support ISBN 0-945454-40-6 (paperback) T in the form of leave time from teaching for conference coordinators Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim as well as the invaluable admin istrative assistance of Stephanie Snyder. Her thoughtful attention to critical details is legendary. Then President William Adams of Bucknell University and then Vice-President forAcademic Affairs Daniel Little have also granted travel funds for faculty and students to attend the Contents conferences. Grateful acknowledgment is here made for the advice from key area specialists in shaping each conference and in editing the published volumes. Their generosity in time and talent has been indispensable at every step of the project. Special thanks are given to Fazlun Khalid, founder director of the Islamic Foundation for Ecol ogy and Environmental Sciences, for his assistance in planning the Islam conference with John Grim. Throughout this process, the sup port, advice, and encouragement from Martin S. Kaplan has been in valuable. Series Preface Lawrence E. Sullivan xi Series Foreword Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim xv Preface to Islam and Ecology Adnan Z. Amin xxxiii Introduction Richard C. Foltz xxxvii I. God, Humans, and Nature ( Toward an Understanding of Environmental Ethics from a Qur' anic Perspective ibrahim Ozdemir 3 The Universe Alive: Nature in the Masnavl of Jalal al-Din Rurni L. Clarke 39 Fifra: An Islamic Model for Humans and the Environment Saadia Khawar Khan Chishti 67 II. The Challenge of (Re)Interpretation '·Islam, the Contemporary IslamicWorld, and the Environmental Crisis .seyyed Hossein Nasr 85 Islam and the Environment: Theory and Practice Mawil Izzi Dien 107 viii Islam and Ecology Contents ix Islam and Ecology: Toward Retrieval and Reconstruction The Aga Khan Development Network: An Ethic of S. Nomanul Haq 121 Sustainable Development and Social Conscience Peace in Islam: An Ecology of the Spirit Tazim R. Kassam 477 Abdul Aziz Said and Nathan C. Funk 155 V. The Islamic Garden as Metaphor for Paradise The Basis for a Discipline of Islamic Environmental Law Nature in Islamic Urbanism: The Garden in Practice and in Othman Abd-ar-Rahman Llewellyn 185 Metaphor Islamic Environmentalism: A Matter of Interpretation Attilio Petruccioli 499 Richard C. Foltz 249 From the Gardens of the Qur' an to the "Gardens" of Lahore Toward an Islamic Ecotheology JamesL. Wescoat, Jr. 511 Kaveh L. Afrasiabi 281 Trees as Ancestors: Ecofeminism and the Poetry of Forugh III. Environment and Social Justice Farrokhzad Farzaneh Milani 527 Islam, Ecology, and Modernity: An Islamic Critique of the Root Causes of Environmental Degradation Glossary of Arabic Terms 535 Fazlun M. Khalid 299 Bibliography on Islam and Ecology The Environmental Crisis of Our Time: A Muslim Response Richard C. Foltz 537 Yasin Dutton 323 Notes on Contributors 549 Islam, Muslim Society, and Environmental Concerns: A Index 559 Development Model Based on Islam's Organic Society Hashim Ismail Dockrat 341 Ecological Justice and Human Rights for Women in Islam Nawal Ammar 377 IV. Toward a Sustainable Society Scientific Innovation and al-Mlziin Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz 393 Capacity Building for Sustainable Development: The Dilemma of Islamization of Environmental Institutions Safei-EldinA. Harned 403 Islam, the Environment, and Family Planning: The Cases of Egypt and Iran Nancy W Jabbra and Joseph G. Jabbra 423 An Ecological Journey in Muslim Bengal Mohammad Yusuf Siddiq 451 Islam in Malaysia's Planning and Development Doctrine Abu Bakar Abdul Majeed 463 Islam, the Contemporary Islamic World, and the Environmental Crisis SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR The Significance of the Issue Both people and governments in the Islamic world, as elsewhere, are naturally paying attention to sundry problems, but outside the purely spiritual and religious dimensions of life, nothing is more important and worthy of consideration today than the environmental crisis. This crisis encompasses the natural ecological system of the globe as well as the human ambience, the air we breathe, the food we consume, the water we drink, and even the inner workings of our bodies. The crisis also endangers the harmony of the whole fabric of life on Earth and the system that makes human life possible. And yet, most Muslims, much like other fellow human beings, are walking through this un precedented crisis like sleepwalkers, little aware of what goes on about them or of the deeper causes of a crisis that threatens human existence itself here on Earth. And this sleepwalking by the majority is taking place despite the powerful and persuasive spiritual teachings of Islam about the natural world and the relation of human beings to it. My own concern with issues of the environmental crisis goes back to the early 1950s and my student days at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologyand Harvard University. Always sensitive to the beauty of nature, I used to walk alone, like Thoreau, around Walden Pond when the natural scenery of the area was still well preserved. It was the construction of Route 128 around Boston and the consequent 86 Islam and Ecology Islam and the Environmental Crisis 87 separation, ecologically speaking, of the area inside the beltway from matter and of the will necessary to prevent further deterioration of the the relatively unhindered countryside beyond that brought home to environment throughactions carried out usually in the name of human me the factthat something was basically wrong in our relationship to welfare, but with the result of the destruction of the health of the natu nature. As a result of this human experience and of years of study not ral world without which human welfare, and in fact human existence only of modern but also of traditional science along with religious itself, would not be possible. We must ask, therefore, why it is that the perspectives concerning the natural world, I was led to foresee a ma Islamic view of nature and concrete directives for human action in the jor environmental crisis, whose real causes were spiritual, looming on natural world are not being emphasized by governmental authorities the horizon. I saw the blind development of modern industry as a can or even by the majority of 'ulamiJ.', who are the traditional guardians cer in the body of nature, a cancerous substance which would finally of Islamic knowledge in its various dimensions.