Islamic Environmental Economics and the Three Dimensions of Islam: “A Common Word” on the Environment as Neighbor

Abstract

The island of Misali, part of the Zanzibar archipelago in the Indian Ocean, is a wonderful example of the remarkable role that religious values can play in confronting the environmental crisis in the Islamic world.1 The coral reef surrounding this largely uninhabited island is home to a rich variety of fish and turtles, providing direct livelihood to people in neighboring Pemba, which is over 95 percent Muslim. A rising human population and depleting fish stocks, however, led fishermen to adopt desperate and unsustainable fishing methods to maintain their catch, including dynamite fishing and the use of guns. Although these destructive methods were damaging the corals and harming species that lived there, government bans had practically no impact. Local religious leaders were able to restore sustainable fishing and a rich underwater life to the island, however, by highlighting Islamic teachings about conservation. One local fisherman aptly summarized why the religious message succeeded, whereas government decrees had failed. “It is easy to ignore the government,” he said, “but no one can break God’s law.”2 The Care International project, which started in 2001, was apparently the first time such a religion-based environmental strategy was employed in Tanzania.KeywordsNeoclassical TheoryEnvironmental CrisisIslamic WorldIslamic PerspectiveIslamic PhilosophyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.