“Green Islam”: Islam at the heart of ecological mobilizations

In a contribution published on The ConversationGeneralist media which associates researchers and journalists to offer analyzes based on academic expertise, Eva F. Nisa, associate professor in cultural anthropology at Australian National University, and Fared F. Saenong, Lecturer in Islamic Studies at UIII in Indonesia, underline the growing role of Islam in the fight against the environmental crisis.

The authors recall that, in the Muslim tradition, man is designated as khalîfahguardian of the earth, and that taking care of nature constitutes an act of faith. They write that this “Green Islam”, theorized in the 1960s, was today embodied in concrete initiatives, notably in Indonesia, where Koranic schools promote ecological education and where the great Istiqlal mosque of Jakarta was the first in the world to obtain an environmental certification. They claim that other Muslim countries are also committed: Morocco with its “green mosques” program, Egypt via a fatwa against environmental practices, or even the financing of sustainable projects by “green sukuk”.

Researchers point out that in Indonesia, the government even encourages preachers to integrate ecological messages into their sermons, especially during Friday prayer. The objective, they write, is to make environmental conscience an integrated dimension of religious life. They also note that international cooperation could gain in efficiency if it recognized this spiritual dimension. According to them, Australia, close to Indonesia, would have every interest in relying on this dynamic to strengthen its own ecological transition policies.

Finally, the authors claim that the climatic emergency requires mobilizing all the available resources, whether scientific, political or religious. “All sources of wisdom are essential,” they write, calling for a collective action inspired by spiritual traditions as modern knowledge. They add that Islam is not an isolated case: other religious traditions also participate in this global movement, laying the foundations for an interconfessional dialogue around the safeguard of the planet.

This contribution highlights the way in which Islam inscribes ecology at the heart of its spiritual vision. By placing the protection of nature to the rank of religious obligations and by valuing the balance between man and his environment, he proposes an ethical and practical reading of climatic issues which joins contemporary concerns.