IT is no secret that Pakistan faces an existential climate change crisis. Currently ranked fifth in the Global Climate Risk Index, we are at severe risk of exposure to extreme temperatures and climate-related disasters. The destructive floods of 2022 — which affected 33 million people and caused economic losses amounting to more than $15 billion — serve as a warning of what the future might hold.

In such a state of affairs, how can one persuade the people of Pakistan to mitigate environmental degradation? Interestingly, one plausible answer lies in religion, particularly Islam. This, in simple terms, would mean proliferating a scheme of ideas based on the Quran and Sunnah aimed at the conservation of the environment.

Often dubbed as Islamic environmentalism, this idea can be traced back to a series of lectures delivered by the Iranian philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr in 1968 at the University of Chicago. Nasr employed the Sufi concept of unity of the universe to argue that all created beings are interconnected, therefore humans owe a duty to the environment, as much as they do to their fellow men. If humans do not live up to this duty, then society will face moral degradation and crises as a direct corollary of our actions. As the Quran states, “Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by [reason of] what the hands of people have earned so He may let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done that perhaps they will return [to righteousness]” (30:41).

Recently, through its judgment in Amer Ishaq and others v. Province of KPK, pertaining to air pollution caused by stone crushers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Supreme Court has placed special emphasis on Islamic environmentalism. The court — while referring to Hossein Nasr’s work — has explored the idea on the basis of six fundamental principles: 1) Tawhid, that Allah is the Creator of all and hence all the created are interconnected. 2) Stewardship, that man, as the khalifa, must adopt a responsible attitude towards managing natural resources. 3) Balance, that the natural balance or meezan of Earth shall not be interfered with. 4) Avoiding waste, that Islam advocates the idea of moderation, especially in relation to consumption; the Quran commands,”O Children of Adam! … Eat and drink, but do not waste. Surely, He does not like the wasteful” (7:31). 5) Justice, that climate change hurts the poor the most even though they may have contributed the least. 6) Hima, that natural resources and biodiversity shall be conserved.

Ideas based on Quran & Sunnah aimed at conservation can be promoted.

In countries across the globe, Islamic environmentalism is being used for community engagement to deal with climate-related issues. In Zanzibar, for years fishermen used to dynamite coral reefs to catch fish. Despite successive attempts, the World Wildlife Fund was unable to persuade them otherwise. Eventually, Fazlun Khaled, founder of the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES), was brought in. Khaled dealt with dynamite fishing by engaging local fishermen, imams, and political leaders in community workshops. Khaled emphasised — much like Nasr — that all of creation is connected, therefore harm incurred to one part of it necessarily effects the others. This proved to be a hugely successful exercise, and the use of dynamite fishing plummeted.

Similarly, the African Muslim Environment Network is playing an active role in dealing with the perils of climate change. It utilises zakat and other charities’ money to spread envir­o­nmental educ­­ation and fin­a­nce sustainable ventures. Mal­aysia also provides a practical example of Islamic environmentalism, where more than 400 mosques have joined hands to counter poaching and promote the conservation of turtles. In 2015, the IFEES launched the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change, aimed at educating Muslims across the world about the harmful impacts of climate change. The declaration stressed the moral and religious duty of all Muslims to adopt sustainable practices to counter climate change.

In order to mitigate damage and promote sustainability, the government must draw from these examples and employ Islam as the basis for wider community engagement on the environment. As a deeply religious country, the people of Pakistan will be more receptive to the idea of environmental conservation as a religious duty.

Stakeholders from across the board — academic experts, religious scholars, and socio-political leaders — must come together to form a consensus against environmental degradation. As one fisherman from Zanzibar put it: we can break the laws of government, but not of God.

The writers study law at LUMS.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2024