4.5.6 Islamic Model for Environmental Stewardship
“Every living thing is in a state of worship”. [Odeh Al-Jayyousi, Professor and head of innovation at Arabian Gulf University in Bahrain] commented that when one hurts a bird or a plant, he/she is silencing a community of worshippers. To celebrate the symphony of life, all humans need to celebrate and protect biological and cultural diversity (UN, 2018).
What role can Muslim faith leaders play in regenerating our ecosystems and mitigating negative human impacts? The Islamic Declaration on Climate Change of 2015 joined Laudato Si and many other prominent statements by global religious leaders in calling for a rapid and concrete response to global warming. In this article, Odeh Al-Jayyousi, Professor at Arabian Gulf University in Bahrain shares his understanding of the role of human trusteeship and stewardship of creation in Islam.
Read: How Islam can represent a model for environmental stewardship // United Nations
Guiding Questions:
- Why does Al-Jayyousi argue that faith is important to ecological education? What perspective can faith impart that has generally been neglected?
- Suggest one activity that you can do for each of Al-Jayyousi’s three domains to address climate change.
Thumbnail: Morning Bluebells, England. Photo Credit: Richard Walker, 2016. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
