A major study of environmentalism and Islam in practice and theory, with an historical overview that sets out future challenges, including reformulating the fiqh or Islamic legal tradition to take the ecological dimension seriously.
In addressing this book to the one billion Muslims in the world it has the potential to reinvigorate the desire for environmental change in a community that is ignored at the planet's peril. In arguing that modernity, consumerism and industrialization need to be rethought, alongside an appeal to reconnect man and woman with creation in the divine order, this book has the potential to transform a generation.
In the same way that Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything presented the argument for environmental action in a Capitalist framework, Fazlun Khalid has written a book that demands action from those whose primary orientation is towards the Islamic faith.
"The Muslim contribution to this alliance for human survival can be profound. Islam has in its teachings both an ethical perspective and a method of practical application that can at least begin to meet the challenges that we face. The Qur’an is inherently environmental and the basis of its eco-theology is now being used to educate people in many parts of the world. Islamic jurisprudence contains a body of practical applications which can provide positive solutions and it has been proven to change attitudes almost overnight as in the case of the fishermen in Zanzibar. To multiply these activities to the desired levels to produce lasting and successful solutions is a priority Muslims should now be addressing. I shall be devoting the rest of this chapter to the contribution Islamic teachings can make to the success of this endeavor."
About the Author
Fazlun Khalid is of Sri Lankan origin. He traces his ancestry to the Hadramut in Yemen and is a descendent of the intrepid sailors who pioneered the spice routes to the Far East in times gone by. Accompanied by a colleague of what was then known as the Ceylon Air Academy, he landed in New Haven on the south coast of England in 1953, from Dieppe in France. Fazlun Khalid has a worldwide reputation as an advocate of environmental protection rooted in religious traditions and is now recognized as one of the fifteen leading eco-theologians in the world. He appeared on the Independent on Sunday list of the top 100 environmentalists in the UK in 2008 and is also listed amongst the “500 Most Influential Muslims in the World” by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan. He founded the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES) which is now established as the world’s leading Islamic environmental NGO.
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Kube Publishing
Language: English
Author: Fazlun Khalid
ISBN: 978-1847740762
Dimensions: 6.2 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches