HSC Environmental Ethics

Question 1

Define environmental ethics

Answer 1

The branch of ethics that considers the natural environment’s intrinsic and instrumental value and the responsibility of human beings to protect, preserve and restore it

Question 2

• Khalifah define
• Khalifah quote
• Khalifah scholar quote
• Khalifah significance to adherents

Answer 2

• Adherents of Islam believe that Allah has entrusted them to be Khalifah, stewards of His creation
• It is He who appointed you khalifs on the earth. - (Qur’an 6:165)
• Though selected to be a caretaker or steward (khalīfah) on the earth…we are in danger of ending life as we know it on our planet. (Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change, 2015)
• Haram and Hima are examples of how Shariah Law can aid adherents in their responsibility of stewardship.
  • The principle of hima enables adherents to establish conservation zones that can protect land and species of flora and fauna.
  • Harams are inviolable zones that can protect natural resources such as watercourses.

Question 3

Mizan define

Mizan quote

Mizan scholar quote

Mizan significance to adherents

Answer 3

There is divinely ordered balance in creation
- Fitrah (order)
- Taqwa (God-consciousness)

• ‘The natural pattern on which Allah made humankind. There shall be no changing Allah’s creation.’ - (Qur’an 30:30)
• ‘God created the earth in perfect equilibrium’ - Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change, 2015
• The balance draws adherents to God-consciousness (taqwa), recognising the creative action of God in the perfect balance of the natural world.
  • Allah’s intentionality in designing the earth
  • Adherents are also called to
    preserve this balance in the face of
    environmental disruption such as
    climate change.

Question 4

Contemporary example (climate change)

Answer 4

Faithfully sustainable is:
- A collective of environmental justice advocates, organisations and companies guided by inherent Islamic teachings.
- Create and regenerate the environment in communities affected by the climate crisis

Mizan link:
- There is a divinely ordered balance in creation - regenerating communities in the climate crisis balances the divine order

Question 5

Contemporary example (water)

Answer 5

Islamic Relief Australia Water for Life Program
- Committed to providing clean, safe and accessible drinking water in Bangladesh and communities in Indonesia, where chronic water and sanitation problems are prevalent

Khalifah link:
- Provided wells, piping and sanitation systems to villages in the Timur Province in Indonesia. This project demonstrates khalifah because the water used in these systems is entirely renewable and sustained by solar power (stewards of His creation).