Environmental Wisdom for Planet Earth: The Islamic Heritage, Rev Ed. (by Bakar Osman)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Environmental Wisdom for Planet Earth: The Islamic Heritage, Rev Ed. by Bakar Osman Rosnani Hashim, Independent Scholar Environmental Wisdom for Planet Earth: The Islamic Heritage, rev. ed. bakar osman University Malaya & Islamic Book Trust, 2022, 114 pages It is no secret that the ecological health of our planet Earth has declined rapidly in the last century, as human lives are beginning to be affected more deeply by global warming and climate change. If nothing is done to arrest the deterioration, then humans and all other creatures are going to be doomed. This book is an attempt to highlight this issue by examining its causes and proposing a solution from the wisdom found in the Islamic tradition, but not excluding those of other religious traditions. It is a revised and expanded version of the first edition, which was published in 2007. To accomplish its objective, the author looks in chapter 1 at the modern route to ecological wisdom, and then he contrasts it with ecological wisdom in the Islamic experience, past and present. For the present, he focuses on the Malaysian experience in Islamic finance, which is such a great success that even non-Muslims patronize Islamic banks. However, it has not been easy to do the same for an environmental policy that was formulated a bit later. He asserts that "long-term solutions to environmental problems necessarily involve changes to some aspects of our current attitudes toward development, our extravagant lifestyle and our understanding and appreciation of the natural order. It is not easy to change people's attitudes, habits, and thought patterns" (p. 12). He suggests that the best hope for a positive change in our environmental thinking would be through education, in particular the subjects of Islamic studies and science. He posits how environmental and ecological consciousness is central to Islam and expounds that the modern West discovered their ecological consciousness the bitter way. By this, he meant that they just realized this after witnessing the damages wrought to our planet Earth as evident from air and water pollution, and numerous environmental hazards through their science and technology (S&T), of their own doing, which in most cases are irreversible. He asserts that modern S&T is the product of modern Western attitudes toward the natural environment that tended to be secular and materialistic. The philosophy is one of a reductionistic vision of the natural order and S&T as value-free. Basically, spirituality has been removed from modern S&T. [End Page 118] This contrasts very much with Islamic civilization, which cares for ecology and the environment based on the sources of its worldview—the Qur'an and the Prophet's Tradition, and also their early scholars such as ibn sina and ikhwan al-safa. As a result, they were able to advance human lives through S&T without destroying our Earth, unlike the way of modern science. Consequently, the author explains that the centrality of environmental consciousness in Islamic teachings is based on the principle of al-tawhid, that is, the Unity of God from which springs the ecological principle of the "Unicity of Nature." This unicity conveys the ideas of interrelatedness, interconnectedness, interdependence, and unity. The more the scientists know about Nature, the more they discover the glaring truth of its unicity, which further proves the truth of Divine Unity. The author describes it well: "al-tawhid inspires science, and science, in turn affirms al-tawhid." He argues that due to the intrinsic link between the idea of Divine Unity and the ecological principle of the Unicity of Nature, ecological consciousness in Islam is necessarily religious and is part of Muslim religious consciousness. Islam teaches Muslims, first, to view nature as a sacred book that complements the revealed Qur'an and contains spiritual messages for man's constant reflection so that he will know its Author and Creator. second, Islam teaches human beings to use nature in accordance with the Laws God has laid down in His last book, the Qur'an. He has the right to use Nature but in accordance with the moral and ethical principles ordained by God. In chapter 1, the author highlights wisdom from the Islamic intellectual heritage...