ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Globalization of Muslim Environmentalism Humans and Nature in the Qur’an The Qur’an presents natural phenomena as signs ( āyāt ) pointing to the existence of God (16:66, 41:53, 51:20-1, 88:17-20). The value of nature is therefore primarily symbolic. Scientific inquiry which aims to understand the workings of the universe thus constitutes, for Muslims, a sacred quest.

Nature is perfectly proportioned and without any flaws (67:3), a reflection of the qualities of its Creator. It has a divinely ordained purpose (3:191, 21:16, 38:27) and is neither random nor meaningless. The “environment” is nothing less than God himself, since, according to the Qur’an, “whithersoever you turn there is the presence of God” (2:115).

Within the hierarchy of Creation, the Qur’an accords humans a special status, that of God’s khalīfa (2:30, 6:165), which has been generally understood by Muslims to mean “vice-regent,” thus one of stewardship or trust ( amānat ).

Recently Idris has criticized this as a later interpretation, however, arguing that the original meaning of khalīfa was “successor”; according to this view, humans are not the “deputies of God” but simply the “successors to Adam.”[^1] Nevertheless, the Qur’an states that “all that is in the earth” has been subjected ( sakhkhara ) to humans (22:65) and that “It is He who has created for you all things that are on earth” (2:29).

Yet ultimately, it is God “in whose hands is the dominion of all things” (36:83; cf. 2:107, 24:42). And though humans are said to have been created “in the best of forms” ( fī ahsanī taqwīm ), the Qur’an goes on to caution that “Assuredly the creation of the heavens and the earth is [a matter] greater than the creation of human beings: Yet most people understand not!” (40:57). Humans are described in the Qur’an as being more like other beings than unlike them.

All creation is said to worship God (22:18), even if their praise is not in expressed in human language (17:44, 24:41-2). Non-human communities are said to be like human communities (6:38), and non-human animals are explicitly said to possess speech (27:16). Non-human animals are said to have received divine revelation, as when God instructs bees on how to make honeycombs and honey (16:68). The earth was created for the benefit of all living beings ( anām ), not for humans alone (55:10).