How might understandings of environmentalism and the environmental humanities shift by incorporating Islamic perspectives? In this book, Anna M. Gade explores the religious and cultural foundations of Islamic environmentalisms. She blends textual and ethnographic study to offer a comprehensive and interdisciplinary account of the legal, ethical, social, and empirical principles underlying Muslim commitments to the earth. Muslim Environmentalisms shows how diverse Muslim communities and schools of thought have addressed ecological questions for the sake of this world and the world to come. Gade draws on a rich spectrum of materials―scripture, jurisprudence, science, art, and social and political engagement―as well as fieldwork in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The book brings together case studies in disaster management, educational programs, international development, conservation projects, religious ritual and performance, and Islamic law to rethink key theories. Gade shows that the Islamic tradition leads us to see the environment as an ethical idea, moving beyond the established frameworks of both nature and crisis. Muslim Environmentalisms models novel approaches to the study of religion and environment from a humanistic perspective, reinterpreting issues at the intersection of numerous academic disciplines to propose a postcolonial and global understanding of environment in terms of consequential relations.

Islamic Environmentalism examines Muslim involvement in environmentalism in the United States and Great Britain. The book focuses upon Muslim activists and Islamic organizations that approach environmentalism as a religious duty: offering environmental readings of Islamic scriptures, and integrating religious ritual and practice with environmental action. Honing in on the insights of social movement theory, Hancock predominantly examines the activism and experience of Muslims involved in environmentalism and bases her research on interviews with activists in the United States and Great Britain. Indeed, the reader is first provided with an insightful analysis of the ways in which Muslim activists interpret and present environmentalism—diagnosing causes of environmental crises, proposing solutions, and motivating other Muslims into activism. This is followed by a discussion of the importance of affective ties, emotion and group culture in motivating and sustaining Muslim involvement in environmental activism. A timely volume which draws attention to the synthesis of political activism and religious practice amongst Muslim environmentalists, this book will be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and postdoctoral researchers interested in fields such as Islamic Studies, Sociology of Religion, Social Movement Theory and Environmental Studies.

This work examines the relevance of traditional Islamic thought and practices for a lasting solution to the current environmental crisis. Quadir describes how Seyyed Hossein Nasr challenges Muslims to reclaim their traditional intellectual and Sufi heritage as powerful means toward a most thoughtful approach to the crisis. In so doing, Nasr urges us to take a critical look at the consequences of the worldviews generated by modern science and technology and offers bold solutions for a more caring relationship between man and nature. The book argues that only a revival of the traditional worldview which perceives all entities of nature as signs of God can effectively respond to the crisis our planet faces.

This is the first book to provide an overview of how Muslim activists are responding on the ground to the global environmental crisis. The detrimental effects of environmental degradation are felt most severely by the world's poor, a disproportionate number of whom are Muslims. Unfortunately, governments of Muslim societies have been slow to respond to environmental problems, while opposition movements as well have mostly chosen to focus on other issues. Nevertheless, environmental awareness and activism are growing throughout the Muslim world. This book offers chapters by leading Muslim environmentalists which survey environmental initiatives in Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Malaysia. Issues are detailed pointing out both successes and failures and describing the unique challenges facing the world's very diverse Muslim societies in striving to balance development and social justice with preserving the integrity of the earth's life support systems.

A Muslim environmentalist explores the fascinating intersection of environmentalism and Islam. Muslims are compelled by their religion to praise the Creator and to care for their community. But what is not widely known is that there are deep and long-standing connections between Islamic teachings and environmentalism. In this groundbreaking book, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin draws on research, scripture, and interviews with Muslim Americans to trace Islam’s preoccupation with humankind’s collective role as stewards of the Earth. Abdul-Matin points out that the Prophet Muhammad declared “the Earth is a mosque.” Using the concept of Deen, which means “path” or “way” in Arabic, Abdul-Matin offers dozens of examples of how Muslims can follow, and already are following, a Green Deen in four areas: “waste, watts (energy), water, and food.”

This volume explores themes of ecotheology, ecofeminism, environmental pollution and degradation, climate change, human and environmental rights, sustainable development, human-animal relations through totem and taboo, sacred sites and spaces, and other environmental topics in ways that add immeasurably to the study of African environmentalisms and the interaction of law and religion. In terms of religion, the capability of humans not only to sin and destroy the earth, but also to repair and redeem it, is very much in evidence across Christianity, Islam and Africa’s many indigenous religious and cultural traditions. In terms of law, the need for effective policies and for states and governments to work with indigenous groups and communities towards environmental solutions is also apparent.