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De Groene Islam De Groene Islam Een vergelijkend onderzoek tussen de mondiale islamitische milieubeweging en Nederlandse groene moslims. Scriptie ter afsluiting van de Master Religies in hedendaagse samenlevingen Naam: N.A.C. Huiskes Studentnummer: 3353214 Departement Religiewetenschap & Theologie Faculteit Geesteswetenschappen Universiteit Utrecht Studiejaar: 2013-2014 Begeleider: dr. N. Landman Tweede lezer: dr. F.L. Bakker Inhoudsopgave Blz. 1. Inleiding 1 1.1 Relevantie en wetenschappelijke situering 1 1.1.1 De mondiale milieucrisis, een complex probleem 1 1.1.2 Religie en ecologie 3 1.1.3 De islamitische milieubeweging 4 1.1.4 Een islamitisch perspectief 4 1.2 Onderzoeksvraag en deelvragen 6 1.2.1 Onderzoeksvraag 6 1.2.2 Deelvragen 6 1.3 Methoden 8 1.3.1 Literatuurstudie 8 1.3.2 Interviews 9 1.3.3 Soorten bronnen en perspectieven 10 1.4 Opzet 11 2. De geschiedenis van de islamitische milieubeweging 13 2.1 Oorsprong 13 2.1.1 Historische context 13 2.1.2 Seyyed Hossein Nasr 14 2.2 Jaren ’80 en ’90 15 2.2.1 Andere moslimdenkers 15 2.2.2 IPCNE 16 2.2.3 Assisi Declarations en World Religions and Ecology 18 2.2.4 Fazlun Khalid en IFEES 19 2.3 2000 tot nu 20 2.3.1 Internationale islamitische milieu-ethiek 20 2.3.2 Civil society 23 2.3.3 Eco-islamistisch activisme 25 2.3.4 Green Deen 26 2.4 Praktische milieuprojecten 27 2.5 Religieuze autoriteit 29 2.6 Deelconclusie 30 3. Het gedachtegoed van de islamitische milieubeweging 31 3.1 Het belang van een islamitische visie 31 3.2 De oorzaken van de milieucrisis 36 3.2.1 Een kritiek op het Westen 36 3.2.2 Een kritiek op de moslimwereld 39 3.3 De islamitische oplossing: wereldbeeld 42 3.3.1 God’s schepping (khalq) 42 3.3.2 De rol van de mens 47 3.3.3 Kritiek op de seculiere milieubeweging en duurzame ontwikkeling 50 3.4 De islamitische oplossing: praktische voorschriften 53 3.4.1 Soenna 53 3.4.2 Shari’a 55 3.5 Deelconclusie 60 4. Groene moslims in Nederland 62 4.1 De respondenten 62 4.2 Oorzaken milieucrisis 64 4.3 Oplossingen milieucrisis 67 4.4 Persoonlijke praktijk 72 4.5 Organisatorische dimensie 74 4.6 Duurzaamheid en de Nederlandse moslimgemeenschap 76 5. Conclusie 79 5.1 Theoretische dimensie 79 5.2 Praktijk-organisatorische dimensie 84 5.3 Toekomstverwachting 88 6. Bibliografie 89 7. Bijlagen: interviews 93 Hendrik-Jan Bakker 93 Alia Azzouzi 113 Mohammed Boubkari 123 Fatima Acharki 137 Wati Chaeron 150 Saad Shah 165 1. Inleiding In Nederland houdt een klein aantal moslims zich vanuit hun religie bezig met goed doen voor de aarde. Deze groene moslims denken en handelen veelal op individueel niveau; een duurzame levensstijl begint immers bij jezelf. In veel mindere mate organiseert een deel van hen zich op collectief niveau rond de Stichting Groene Moslims,1 de enige organisatie in Nederland die zich vanuit een specifiek islamitisch perspectief richt op milieu en duurzaamheid. Ook brengen zij hun streven naar duurzaamheid in de praktijk via niet-islamitische verbanden en organisaties. Er wordt doorgaans veel geschreven over de geijkte islamitische groepen zoals vrouwen en (geradicaliseerde) jongeren, maar er is bij mijn weten nog geen onderzoek gedaan naar groene moslims, als sub-groep binnen de Nederlandse moslimgemeenschap. Het gaat hier om een relatief (zeer) kleine groep en dit gaat ook op voor groene moslims wereldwijd. Dit doet de vraag rijzen wat het onderzoeken van groene moslims in Nederland, maar ook op een mondiaal niveau, zo interessant en waardevol maakt. 1.1 Relevantie en wetenschappelijke situering 1.1.1 De mondiale milieucrisis, een complex probleem De mondiale milieucrisis is een van de grootste en tevens een van de meest complexe problemen die de wereld op dit moment kent. Deze crisis kenmerkt zich door een verscheidenheid aan sub-crises, die niet zelden nauw met elkaar verbonden zijn. Dit zijn onder meer klimaatverandering; lucht-, water- en grondvervuiling; het uitsterven van diersoorten; nucleair afval; excessief gebruik van natuurlijke hulpbronnen en afvalproblematiek. Deze problemen vormen allerlei soorten risico’s voor zowel niet-levende milieucompartimenten, zoals water, alsmede voor levende organismen; zowel planten, dieren alsook mensen. Geregeld ontstaan de risico’s voor levende organismen ten gevolge van de vervuiling of aantasting van niet-levende milieucompartimenten. Het gehele ecologische systeem is met andere woorden geïntegreerd en kenmerkt zich door interdependentie. Het is in dit opzicht van belang om te beseffen dat ook het organisme mens onderdeel uitmaakt van de natuur, zowel op conceptueel niveau als in de praktijk.2 1 www.groenemoslims.nl 2 In deze scriptie zullen, ten behoeve van afwisseling, de termen milieu en natuur willekeurig gebruikt worden. Dit betekent niet dat ze hetzelfde zijn: milieu slaat op alle compartimenten waaruit onze omgeving bestaat: lucht, bodem, etc. Natuur verwijst naar dat wat leeft; micro-organismen, planten, dieren en dus ook de mens. Samen vormen ze een ecosysteem. Met de twee termen verwijs ik niet zozeer naar de specifiek bijbehorende definities, maar meer naar het geheel, naar het ecosysteem dus. De overkoepelende term ecosysteem (of ecologie) laat ik echter (grotendeels) voor wat het is, omdat de termen natuur en milieu meer gebruikelijk zijn. Kortom, daar waar natuur staat, kan natuur en milieu gelezen worden, en daar waar milieu staat kan milieu en natuur gelezen worden. 1 Dit wordt duidelijk wanneer de bron van de ecologische crisis geïdentificeerd wordt. De oorzaak van al deze problemen kan namelijk herleid worden tot de menselijke beschaving,3 hoewel er ook geluiden klinken dat bijvoorbeeld de huidige klimaatverandering een natuurlijke oorzaak en verloop heeft. Als we ervan uitgaan dat de oorsprong bij de mens ligt, betekent dit dat de oplossingen eveneens bij de mens gezocht moeten worden. Enkel het ontwikkelen van milieuvriendelijke technologieën of theoretische oplossingen is ontoereikend; de mens moet immers in staat zijn en ertoe bereid zijn om deze oplossingen in de praktijk te brengen.4 Hierop voortbouwend kan de complexiteit van de crisis mijns inziens als volgt gekenschetst worden. De milieucrisis is ontstaan uit een wisselwerking tussen drie zaken: 1.) technologieën (bijvoorbeeld de mogelijkheid om naar gas en olie te boren), 2.) structurele factoren die zorg voor het milieu op de tweede plaats zetten (kapitalisme, maar ook armoede), en 3.) ideologische, culturele en levensbeschouwelijke factoren, zoals een denken over het milieu waarin deze ondergeschikt is gemaakt aan de mens en enkel een instrumentele functie vervult. Als we ervan uitgaan dat de milieucrisis veroorzaakt wordt door deze drie facetten, dan is het logisch dat de oplossingen voor de crisis hierop moeten inhaken. Vanuit dit perspectief dienen 1.) nieuwe, milieuvriendelijke technologieën ontwikkeld te worden, 2.) structurele belemmeringen zoals armoede tegen gegaan te worden en 3.) een nieuwe visie op natuur en milieu te komen. Een complex probleem zoals de mondiale ecologische crisis, waarbij veel verschillende factoren en perspectieven komen kijken, behoeft een interdisciplinaire, geïntegreerde aanpak.5 Interdisciplinariteit ‘is a process of answering a question, solving a problem, or addressing a topic that is too broad or complex to be dealt with adequately by a single discipline and draws on disciplinary perspectives and integrates their insights to produce a more comprehensive understanding or cognitive advancement.’6 In deze scriptie wordt het derde relevante perspectief dat ik hierboven geïdentificeerd heb behandeld: het denken, en meer specifiek de levensbeschouwing van mensen als oorzaak van en als oplossing voor de ecologische crisis. Hierbinnen heb ik, vanwege mijn academische interesse en kennis, voor het islamitische perspectief gekozen. Ik focus niet op de vraag hoe de islam bijgedragen heeft aan de milieucrisis. Niet omdat deze vraag niet onderzocht kan worden, maar omdat onderzoek hiernaar zeer (historisch) complex is en de omvang ervan buiten de mogelijkheden van deze scriptie valt. Bovendien ben ik veel meer geïnteresseerd in de constructieve bijdrage van de islamitische traditie. In deze scriptie focus ik me daarom wel op de vraag hoe er vanuit een islamitisch wereldbeeld over de (levensbeschouwelijke) oorzaken en de (levensbeschouwelijke) oplossingen voor de crisis wordt gedacht. Die aandacht voor de (levensbeschouwelijke) oorzaken van de crisis is noodzakelijk omdat de islamitische oplossingen hier vaak een reactie op zijn en op inhaken. De islam, en religie an sich, is een veelomvattend 3 B.J.M. de Vries & A.C. Petersen, ‘Conceptualizing Sustainable Development. An Assessment Methodology Connecting Values, Knowledge, Worldviews and Scenarios’, Ecological Economics 68 2009, 1006-1019, 1013-1014. L. White, ‘The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis’, in: Gottlieb, R.S. (ed.), This Sacred Earth. Religion, Nature, Environment, New York 1996, 184-193, 184. 4 Kilbourne & Beckman (1998), in: G. Rice, ‘Pro-Environmental Behavior in Egypt. Is There a Role for Islamic Environmental Ethics?’, Journal of Business Ethics 65 2006, 373-390, 373. 5 De Vries & Petersen, ‘Conceptualizing Sustainable Development’, 1011. Zie ook de LAS-scriptie Het Hemelse Riool (C. Blokhuis & N. Huiskes) voor een case study, namelijk de vervuiling van de rivier de Ganges. In deze scriptie wordt er vanuit de milieu- en natuurwetenschappen technisch-ecologische oplossingen aangedragen en wordt er vanuit de religiewetenschappen naar de hindoeïstische traditie gekeken, in het bijzonder naar ethische aanknopingspunten die het belang van een schone rivier
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