Week 2 - Islam & Sustainable Development
15 March 2023
We will discuss about Islam into three principles of sustainable development which are Islam & social sustainability, Islam & environmental sustainability, Islam & economic sustainability. First, Islam and environmental sustainability. We have to ensure our environments are always green because we do not want our life to be affected. For example, if we want to build a house we should not block the sunlight to our neighbours because every individual is entitled to common resources. Environmental degradation happens because of the people's ignorance and those who do the damage are considered as corrupters and Allah does not love the corrupters. In order to please Allah we have to be one of the people who build the environment, not the one who damages the environment. The Prophet Muhammad encouraged the proper way to use water without wasting it. He said whoever increases more than three, he does injustice and wrong. For example, when we take ablution, we normally take 3 times, it is not harmful to do 4-5 times, but we create injustice because we waste water. Even though we have a lot of water, we cannot use it excessively. That's not meant for us, but it is meant for others. In our university, we are surrounded by a small forest. We can have continuous rewards if we plant a tree then a lot of creatures will benefit from trees, it is considered as a charity and we will get rewards.
Next, Islam and social sustainability. Khalifa means we are the wisdom of Allah where we have to ensure the world is preserved and protected from all the pollution and damages. Rahmatan lil alamin is a mercy, barakah and blessing to the human, flora and fauna. We have to apply the concept of Shura, which means mutual consultation or meeting. It is not to discover but to gain the consultation and have participation in everything that we want to do. The Shuratic process is in the consultation or participatory ruling principle of Islam. For example, we need to ask for permission from the authorities or government whenever we want to do construction, we need to ask our neighbours, if not it will affect their house such as noise and privacy of neighbours. Sustainable development is our duty as muslim to perform fardhu ain (strong belief) & fardhu kifayah. Sustainable development is fardhu kifayah that requires collective responsibility. One of the ways to include Islam in sustaining social sustainability is to understand our responsibility as a muslim and participate in Shura.
Last but not least, Islam and economic sustainability. Economy is an activity that benefits us in terms of production, wealth, trades, consumption activities & daily activities, consuming electricity and water, job employments, saving and for the sake of economy people are willing to harm people & environment, for example people selling people. Economy is important but we need to respect people and the environment. In Islam, it also prohibits poverty as it is close to disbelief (kufr). This is because, if we are poor we are unable to pay zakah thus we will miss one of our pillars of Islam which is pay zakah. To balance the disadvantaged group to help them, we have charity, alms and endowment.
To conclude, sustainable development is not a new concept in islam, sustainable development is embedded in our life as a Muslim in everything that we do that is already integrated with sustainable development. For example, if we want to perform prayer, we cannot use the water excessively to make our ablution. It is prohibited to use a lot of water, we cannot waste the water. Alternatively, if water is limited , we can use dust or powder. This is how sustainability is embedded in islam. Then, we are encouraged to pray in jummah to preserve the society and bonding. Ablution preserves the environment. In terms of economy we encourage charity & zakah.
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