Environmental Degradation and Interfaith Efforts: A Contemporary Discourse of Islam and Hinduism

Authors

  • Ulfat Sadiqa Doctoral Candidate, Department of Comparative Religions, Faculty of Uṣūl Uddīn, International Islamic University, Islamabad
  • Dr. Amt ul Rafi Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Religions, Faculty of Uṣūl Uddīn, International Islamic University, Islamabad

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53762/alqamar.05.03.e04

Keywords:

Environmental degradation, Earth, Man, anthropocentric, theocentric, nthropocosmic, peaceful co-existence, interfaith effort, Islam, Hinduism

Abstract

Today, Environmental degradation is an alarming issue our only living planet Earth is facing on a global level. It is basically a process of destruction of a potentially renewable resource such as water, forest, animals, air, and wildlife etc. It can be seen in the form of lost living forms due to the disturbance in the ecosystem of planet Earth. The recent developments in the human worldview and civilization are the main reasons for such environmental degradation. In this present scenario of environmental degradation, Islam and Hinduism provides a holistic approach for equilibrium of Earth and its ecosystem. In this regard, the contemporary discourse is more relevant to control human’s anthropogenic activities. In their interfaith efforts for the protection of environment, contemporary eco-scholars of Islam and Hinduism have revised the ecological worldview, the place and position of mankind in the hierarchy of cosmos, and the sacred quality of environment in the mind of modern man. This interfaith research presents a comparative analysis of the eco-religious understandings of contemporary thinkers of both faiths to sustain Man-Environment relationship in 21st century. Through discussion of their eco-religious views, this paper motivates human beings to use natural resources of Earth in balance way and ensure the peaceful co-existence of all species.

References

Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1949).

Rachel L Carson, Silent spring (Boston: Mifflin, 1962).

Garrett Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Science 162, no. 3859 (1968): 1243–48.

Arnold Toynbee, “The Religious Background of the Present Environmental Crisis A Viewpoint,” International Journal of Environmental Studies Journal of Environmental Studies 3, no. 1–4 (1972): 141–46.

Lynn. White American Association for the Advancement of Science., “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis” ([Washington]: American Association of Science, 1967).

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man (London: Unwin Paperbacks, 1990).

Aubrey Rose, Judaism and Ecology (London: Cassell Publishers, 1992).

Elizabeth Breuilly and Martin Palmer, Christianity and Ecology (London: Cassell Publishers, 1992).

Fazlun M. Khalid and Joanne O’Brien, Islam and Ecology (New York, NY: Cassell, 1992).

Ranchor Prime, Hinduism and Ecology: Seeds of Truth (New York: Cassell, 1992).

martine Batchelor and Kerry Brown, Buddhism and Ecology (London: Cassell Publishers, 1992).

Jerry Brotton, The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 41.

John Opie, “Renaissance Origins of the Environmental Crisis,” Environmental Review 11, no. 1 (1987): 2–17.

Ibid.

Ulfat Sadiqa and Amt ul Rafi, “Earth-Man Relationship in Islam and Hinduism: A Comparative Study of Eco-Theological Response of Fazlun Majeed Khālid And Ranchor Prime,” Al-Basirah 11, no. 01 (2022): 17–34.

Fazlun M Khalid, “Islam, Globalisation and Ecology,” in The Impact of Globalisation on the Islamic World: Issues and Challenges in the 21st Century, ed. Sharifah Munirah Alatas Norulzaman bin Syed Kamarulzaman (Malaysia: Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, 2001), 151.

Prime, Hinduism and Ecology: Seeds of Truth, 111.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Religion and the Order of Nature (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 03.

Isma’il Raji Al-Faruqi, Al Tawhid: Its Implications for Thought and Life (Herndon (Virginia): International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1992), 10.

William. Chittick, “The Essential Seyyed Hossein Nasr” (Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2007), 43.

Sayyid Abul A’la Mawdudi, Towards Understanding the Qur’an: Abridged Version of Tafhim al-Qur’an. Vol.1, ed. Zafar Ishaq Ansari (United Kingdom: Islamic Foundation, 1988), 35.

Ismāʿīl bʿUmar Ibn Kaṯhīr, Tafsir Ibn Kathir: (Abridged) Surat At-Taghabun to the End of the Qurʼân. Vol.10, ed. Ṣafī al-Raḥmān al- Mubārakfūrī (Riyadh: Darussalam, 2003), 641.

Fazlun M. Khalid, “Islam, Ecology, and Modernity: An Islamic Critique of the Root Causes of Environmental Degradation,” in Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust, ed. Richard C. Foltz, Frederick M. Denny, and Azizan Baharuddin (Harvard University Press, 2003), 316.

Lewis Edwin Hahn, Randall E. Auxier, and Jr Lucian W. Stone, eds., The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Chicago: Open Court, 2001), 516.

Nasr, Religion and the Order of Nature, 3.

Zainal Abidin Bagir, Science and Religion in a Post-Colonial World (Australia: Australian Theological Forum Incorporated, 2005), 203.

Zamir Iqbal Mirakhor, Abbas, Sadr, Seyed Kazem, “Handbook of Ethics of Islamic Economics and Finance” (Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2020).

Chittick, “The Essential Seyyed Hossein Nasr,” 175.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, “Sacred Science And The Environmental Crisis: An Islamic Perspective,” in Islam and the Environment, ed. Harfiyah Abdel Haleem (London: Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd, 1998), 124–25.

Fazlun M. Khalid, “Ecology, Sustainability & Future Generations: An Islamic Perspective,” The Future Generations Journal 22, no. 1 (1997): 1–5.

Fazlun M. Khalid and Ali Kh. Thani, Teachers guide book for Islamic environmental education (Birmingham: Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2007), 15.

Fazlun M Khalid, “Islamic Basis for Environmental Protection,” in Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, ed. Bron R Taylor, vol. 1 (London: Continuum International, 2008), 881.

Khālid O’Brien, Joanne., Islam and Ecology, 106.

Khalid and Thani, Teachers guide book for Islamic environmental education, 28.

Khalid, “Islamic Basis for Environmental Protection,” 880.

Khalid and Thani, Teachers guide book for Islamic environmental education, 45.

Sadiqa and Rafi, “Earth-Man Relationship in Islam and Hinduism: A Comparative Study of Eco-Theological Response of Fazlun Majeed Khālid And Ranchor Prime.”

Katajun Amirpur Eckart Ehlers, Middle East and North Africa: Climate, Culture, and Conflicts (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2021), 48.

Chandradhar. Sharma, Indian Philosophy: A Critical Survey (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1962), 251.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, The Brahma Sutra: The Philosophy Of Spiritual Life (London: George Allen & Unwin LTD, 1960), 43.

B V Kamesvara Aiyar, The Purusha Sukta. (Madras: G.A. Natesan, 1898), 10–55.

Arne. Naess, Self-Realization: An Ecological Approach to Being in the World (Murdoch: Murdoch University, 1984), 43.

Martin Haigh, “Deep Ecology Education: Learning from Its Vaisnava,” Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 2006, 44.

Bill Devall Arne Næss, Alan Drengson, Ecology of Wisdom: Writings by Arne Naess (Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2010), 92.

Bhikhu Parekh, Gandhi: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 50–51.

John S Moolakkattu T. N. Khoshoo, Mahatma Gandhi and the Environment: Analysing Gandhian Environmental Thought (New Delhi: Teri Press, 1996), 09.

Naess, Self-Realization: An Ecological Approach to Being in the World, 40.

Haigh, “Deep Ecology Education: Learning from Its Vaisnava,” 49.

Parekh, Gandhi: A Very Short Introduction, 127.

T. N. Khoshoo, Mahatma Gandhi and the Environment: Analysing Gandhian Environmental Thought, 09.

Ranchor Prime, Vedic Ecology: Practical Wisdom for Surviving the 21st Century (San Francisco: Mandala; Airlift, 2003), 25.

Lance E. Nelson, Purifying the Earthly Body of God: Religion and Ecology in Hindu India (New York: State University of New York Press, 1998), 21.

Prime, Hinduism and Ecology: Seeds of Truth.

Published

2022-09-30

How to Cite

Ulfat Sadiqa, and Dr. Amt ul Rafi. 2022. “Environmental Degradation and Interfaith Efforts: A Contemporary Discourse of Islam and Hinduism”. Al-Qamar 5 (3):51-70. https://doi.org/10.53762/alqamar.05.03.e04.