From motives of power and greed and not necessarily
from need, and with a technology to match, man this century has depleted the
earth’s natural resources, product, and continues to produce waste and
pollution on a scale which has never been known. His science and technology and
his motives of power and greed have produced stockpiles or enough nuclear,
chemical and biological weapons to destroy the earth several times. His
economics and his values have led to the concentration of vast human
populations in urban environments and the alienation of man environment and
nature.
The ecological crisis which the world is
witnessing and which threatens man’s future could not have happened under the
Islamic system of morality and law or under its conception of knowledge and its
application. Unfortunately, under the global impact of the West, Islamic values
in their environmental aspects are no longer to be seen even in Muslim
societies.
Nowhere in Muslim societies is the Shari’ah adhered to in its totality or the Islamic way of
life the basis of human action.
On land, sea and air, there is a vast variety of
plant and animal species and organisms. Each organism has its place and its
role to play in the intricate and interdependent network of ecosystems.
As ‘nations’ like
ourselves, each species that make up creation enjoys certain rights. For man this creation,
or what is often called nature, are signs of God’s power and wisdom. To gain
knowledge of this creation is to increase out faith in God and acquire a love
and a respect for nature. The world is also a gift to man which he is to use
for his benefit. Man has been given the authority but also the moral responsibility
to work in harmony with the natural environment. This is God’s trust or amaanah to man.
The ethics of this trust is illustrated by the
following story in which faith in God is naturally and beautifully expressed by
the beloved Prophet in love for His creation.
Only faith in God as the Creator and Sustainer of
everything, can generate and sustain the kind of
reverence and respect for everything created. In contrast, pantheism or man’s
worship of nature, degrades man before nature.
Scientism or man’s arrogant and reckless use of knowledge and technology, turns him into a sadistic exploiter of God’s
creation. (top)