Islamic Environmental Ethics and the Challenge of Anthropocentrism

Lynn White’s seminal article on the historical roots of the ecological crisis, which inspired radical environmentalism, has cast suspicion upon religion as the source of modern anthropocentrism. To pave the way for a viable Islamic environmental ethics, charges of anthropocentrism need to be faced...

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Autor principal:	Ali M. Rizvi
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	International Institute of Islamic Thought 2010
Materias:	Islam BP1-253
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/dc66388ab864416da57519c987a0299b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:dc66388ab864416da57519c987a0299b2021-12-02T19:41:33ZIslamic Environmental Ethics and the Challenge of Anthropocentrism10.35632/ajis.v27i3.3662690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/dc66388ab864416da57519c987a0299b2010-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/366https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 Lynn White’s seminal article on the historical roots of the ecological crisis, which inspired radical environmentalism, has cast suspicion upon religion as the source of modern anthropocentrism. To pave the way for a viable Islamic environmental ethics, charges of anthropocentrism need to be faced and rebutted. Therefore, the bulk of this paper will seek to establish the nonanthropocentric credentials of Islamic thought. Islam rejects all forms of anthropocentrism by insisting upon a transcendent God who is utterly unlike His creation. Humans share the attribute of being God’s creations with all other beings, which makes them internally related to every other being, indeed to every single entity in this universe. This solves the problem that radical environmentalism has failed to solve, namely, how to define our relation with nature and other beings without dissolving our specificity. Furthermore, Islamic ethics structures human relations strictly around the idea of limiting desires. The resulting ethico-legal synthesis, made workable by a pragmatic legal framework, can sustain a justifiable use of nature and its resources without exploiting them. The exploitation of nature is inherently linked to the exploitation of one’s self and of fellow human beings. Such exploitation, according to Qur’anic wisdom, is the direct result of ignoring the divine law and the ethics of dealing with self and “other.” Only by reverting to the divine law and ethics can exploitation be overcome. The paper ends by briefly considering possible objections and challenges vis-à-vis developing a philosophically viable yet religiously oriented environmental ethics. Ali M. RizviInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 27, Iss 3 (2010)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Islam BP1-253
spellingShingle	Islam BP1-253 Ali M. Rizvi Islamic Environmental Ethics and the Challenge of Anthropocentrism
description	Lynn White’s seminal article on the historical roots of the ecological crisis, which inspired radical environmentalism, has cast suspicion upon religion as the source of modern anthropocentrism. To pave the way for a viable Islamic environmental ethics, charges of anthropocentrism need to be faced and rebutted. Therefore, the bulk of this paper will seek to establish the nonanthropocentric credentials of Islamic thought. Islam rejects all forms of anthropocentrism by insisting upon a transcendent God who is utterly unlike His creation. Humans share the attribute of being God’s creations with all other beings, which makes them internally related to every other being, indeed to every single entity in this universe. This solves the problem that radical environmentalism has failed to solve, namely, how to define our relation with nature and other beings without dissolving our specificity. Furthermore, Islamic ethics structures human relations strictly around the idea of limiting desires. The resulting ethico-legal synthesis, made workable by a pragmatic legal framework, can sustain a justifiable use of nature and its resources without exploiting them. The exploitation of nature is inherently linked to the exploitation of one’s self and of fellow human beings. Such exploitation, according to Qur’anic wisdom, is the direct result of ignoring the divine law and the ethics of dealing with self and “other.” Only by reverting to the divine law and ethics can exploitation be overcome. The paper ends by briefly considering possible objections and challenges vis-à-vis developing a philosophically viable yet religiously oriented environmental ethics.
format	article
author	Ali M. Rizvi
author_facet	Ali M. Rizvi
author_sort	Ali M. Rizvi
title	Islamic Environmental Ethics and the Challenge of Anthropocentrism
title_short	Islamic Environmental Ethics and the Challenge of Anthropocentrism
title_full	Islamic Environmental Ethics and the Challenge of Anthropocentrism
title_fullStr	Islamic Environmental Ethics and the Challenge of Anthropocentrism
title_full_unstemmed	Islamic Environmental Ethics and the Challenge of Anthropocentrism
title_sort	islamic environmental ethics and the challenge of anthropocentrism
publisher	International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate	2010
url	https://doaj.org/article/dc66388ab864416da57519c987a0299b
work_keys_str_mv	AT alimrizvi islamicenvironmentalethicsandthechallengeofanthropocentrism
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Islamic Environmental Ethics and the Challenge of Anthropocentrism

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