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Throughout the universe,
the divine care for all things and all-pervading wisdom in the elements of
creation may be perceived, attesting to the All-Wise Creator. The Glorious Quran has made it
clear that each thing and every creature in the universe, whether known to
man or not, performs two major functions: a religious function in so far as
it evidences the Maker’s presence and infinite wisdom, power, and grace;
and a social function in the service of man and other created beings.
God’s wisdom has ordained
that His creatures shall be of service to one another. The divinely appointed measurement
and distribution of all elements and creatures, each performing its
ordained role and all of them valuable, makes up the dynamic balance by
which the creation is maintained.
Over exploitation, abuse, misuse, destruction, and pollution of
natural resources are all transgressions against the divine scheme. Because narrow-sighted
self-interest is always likely to tempt men to disrupt the dynamic
equilibrium set by God, the protection of all natural resources from abuse
is a mandatory duty.
In the divine scheme by
which all creatures are made to be of service to one another, God’s wisdom
has made all things of service to mankind. But nowhere has God indicated that they are created only
to serve human beings. On the
contrary, Muslim legal scholars have maintained that the service of man is
not the only purpose for which they have been created.With regard to God’s
saying:
“And He has made the ships to be of service unto you, that
they may sail the sea by His command, and the rivers He has made of service
unto you. And He has made the
sun and the moon, constant in their courses, to be of service unto you, and
He has made of service unto you the night and day. And He gives you all you seek of
Him: If you would count the bounty of God, you could never reckon it.”
(Quran 14:32-34)
…and similar verses in which God declares that He created
His creations for the children of Adam; it is well known that God in His
great wisdom has exalted purposes in them other than the service of man,
and greater than the service of man.
However, He makes clear to the children of Adam what benefits there
are in these creatures and what bounty He has bestowed upon mankind.”[1]
Even though the societal
functions of all things are vitally important, the primary function of all
created beings as signs of their Creator constitutes the soundest legal
basis for conservation of the environment. It is not possible to base the protection of our
environment on our need for its services alone, since these services are
only of supporting value and reason.
Because we cannot be aware
of all the beneficial functions of all things, to base our efforts at conservation
solely on the environmental benefits to man would lead inevitably to the
distortion of the dynamic equilibrium set by God and the misuse of His
creation, thereby impairing these same environmental benefits. However, when we base the
conservation and protection of the environment on its value as the sign of
its Creator, we cannot omit any thing from it. Every element and species has its individual and unique
role to play in glorifying God, and in bringing man to know and understand
his Creator by showing him, through their being and uses, God’s infinite
power, wisdom, and mercy. It
is impossible to countenance the willful ruin and loss of any of the basic
elements and species of the creation, or to think that the continued
existence of the remainder is sufficient to lead us to contemplate the
glory, wisdom, and might of God in all the aspects that are intended. Indeed, because species differ in
their special qualities, and each evidences God’s glory in ways unique to
it alone.
Furthermore, all human
beings and, indeed, livestock and wildlife as well, enjoy the right to
share in the resources of the earth.
Man’s abuse of any resource, such as water, air, land, and soil as
well as other living creatures such as plants and animals is forbidden, and
the best use of all resources, both living and lifeless, is prescribed.
Footnotes:
[1] Taqi ud-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyah in Majmu ‘al-Fatawa.
Location: www.IslamReligion.com
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