Eco-Islam
Produced by Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders
Original Broadcast: March 26, 2009.
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Click on the player above to listen to the show or download it here.
E.O. Wilson in the introduction to his latest book, The Creation, urged the leaders of all world religions to put the environment on the top of their agendas. Muslim theologians and clerics are responding in kind, developing Islamic guidelines and initiatives based on their reading of the Koran and an ancient Islamic environmental ethic that began in the Arabian desert. There’s even a Green Party, the PKB or National Awakening Party, in Indonesia that’s working to amend the constitution to make the right to a clean environment a fundamental human right. A moratorium on logging has been proposed, a plan to develop forestry, and, in Java, there’s an environmental madrassa where the children chant, “One earth, for all.”
Guests
Fazlun Khalid is the founder of The Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES). He’s responsible for helping initiate environmental projects in Africa and Indonesia.
Dr. Saleem Ali is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont and currently a visiting fellow at the Brookings Research Center in Doha, Qatar. He is also author of Islam and Education: Conflict and Conformity in Pakistan’s Madrassahs.
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Click on the player above to listen to host Jean Feraca’s full pre-recorded interview with Dr. Ali or click here to download it.
Reading List
- Islam and Education: Conflict and Conformity in Pakistan’s Madrassahs by Saleem Ali, Oxford University Press, February 2009.
- Knowledge and the Sacred by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, SUNY Press, 1989.
- Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Kazi Publications, 1997.
- Religion and the Order of Nature by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Oxford University Press, August 1996.
- Resources on Islam and Ecology:
- “Environmentalism & Islam” by Francesca De Chatel, IslamOnline, February 28, 2003.
- “Green Jihad” by Fareena Alam and Abdul-Rehman Malik, Green Futures, March 9, 2007.
- “Is a greener Islam possible?” by Aurangzeb Ahmad, altmuslim, March 29, 2007.
- Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust by Foltz, Denny, and Baharuddin, Harvard University Press, October 2003.
- “Islam and Ecology” by Marjorie Hope and James Young, Cross Currents, Summer 1994.
- “Indonesians use Koran to teach environmentalism” by Peter Gelling, International Herald Tribune, May 6, 2008.
- “Recycle Drive” posted on Half Date, January 1, 2009.
- Resources on Islamic Architecture:
- “Bridgeview mosque goes solar” by Manya Brachear, The Seeker, Chicago Tribune, July 31, 2008.
- “Car-Free, Solar City in Gulf Could Set a New Standard for Green Design” by Andrew C. Revkin, New York Times, February 5, 2008.
- “From the Gardens of the Qur’an to the ‘Gardens’ of Lahore” by James L. Wescoat Jr., Landscape Research, Spring 1995.
- “The Moonlight Garden: New Discoveries at the Taj Mahal” by James L. Wescoat Jr., University of Washington Press, 2001.
- “Muslim Contributions to Geography and Environmental Ethics: The Challenges of Comparison and Pluralism” by James L. Wescoat Jr., Space, Place, and Environmental Ethics, 1997.
- A Resource on Environmental Ethics:
- “The ‘right of thirst’ for animals in Islamic law: a comparative approach” by James L. Wescoat, Jr., Society and Space, 1995.
- Related Sites with Additional Resources:
Related Posts on Inside Islam
- “Eco-Islam” (all show posts)
Last update: March 26, 2009.
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Radio show on Inside Islam: Eco-Islam with Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr. The show airs on March 26. Also, Inside Islam is on Twitter.
on Apr 5th, 2009 at 11:39 am
I’m writing a term paper on Native American ecology and I’d like to read a transcript of the Dr. Ali interview. I’m unable to download the audio version since I don’t have high – speed internet. I heard the program while driving home one day and it’s exactly what I am studying in school – I believe the future of environmentalism must be morally driven rather than economically or politically driven in order to succeed.
I need to be able to reference Dr. Ali’s work with the fishermen who were dynamiting the coral reefs. A transcript of the interview would really be helpful. If that’s not possible, where could I read about that project of his, and the part that Islamic teaching played in his success?