Hussein A. Amery
14 October 2008
opinion
Islam's overall environmental message is one of balance: people should avoid excessive accumulation of material wealth and pride in worldly accomplishments because these sidetrack believers to irreligious temptations, thus disrupting the flow of sustenance. But Islam recognizes the fallibility of humans and their weakness in the face of temptations.
It was for this reason that the institution of the hisba, the office of public inspection, was created. Throughout much of Islam's history, the hisba encompassed both moral issues as well as those touching more widely on everyday life. Today, the moral aspect of the hisba no longer exists, except in a few countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Sudan.
The ethical underpinning of the hisba is the Quran's instruction about "enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong," and the sharia principle of "no injury." The officer in charge of the hisba is called the muhtasib, and his duty, among other things, is to ensure the proper conduct of people in their public activities, including those involving resources and non-human species. For example, a muhtasib is expected to prevent the abuse of animals, protect and manage public land reserves, and regulate water uses
According to the great jurist Ibn Taymiah, the most important qualifications of the muhtasib are expertise in the subject matter, kindness, and patience. Throughout the Muslim world, the hisba should be resurrected and entrusted with the implementation of fair and just water management practices.
The teachings of Islam that advocate wise use of water resources to meet humans' need to sustain themselves can be summarized in the notion of demand management. People, according to Islam, may control nature and consume its resources, but may not cruelly conquer it in such a way as to irreversibly degrade God's creation. Given that a water management strategy that incorporates elements of the "cultural landscape is likely to have a strong impact on the interior landscape", policy-makers can tap into Muslims' religiosity and desire for salvation to design and implement an Islamically inspired water management strategy. For Muslims, salvation can be achieved only through applying Islam's teachings and sharia, which are clearly water-friendly.
Principles of Islamic water management may be used alone or, as was done in Jordan in the early 1990s, in combination with non-religious slogans on various posters in an effort to induce Jordanians to conserve the kingdom's scarce water resources. Likewise, effective Islamically grounded water policy can be drafted to reflect alternative, non-traditional world views and value systems. Furthermore, sustainable management of water resources in Islamic countries is more likely to be realized if the management instruments incorporate a host of alternative incentives such as religious, spiritual, and resource-based rewards. Culturally sensitive demand management strategies require a deliberate effort of water education about the positive link between Islam and water conservation.
It would be spiritually rewarding at the individual level, and socially and environmentally beneficial at the community or country levels, to educate students in a way that is consistent with their culture and belief system. Hence, Islamic water management principles, when sufficiently developed, should be moved from the academic or religious level to the popular level. The totality of Islamic water management principles, including their educational dimension, ought to change the way Muslims live their lives. God "tests" Muslims by the manner in which they use water (and other) resources. The test is about whether they are "living" their religion by following its principles of conserving water and protecting its quality. Those who do will be rewarded by God with His blessings as well as with increased resources. Disobedient Muslims have opportunities to repent and mend their ways, or will be penalized in this life and the afterlife.
The world cannot be partitioned into "inside" and "outside" spheres, where the natural environment and water resources are the "outside." Humans are embedded in nature and should act as its stewards not its conquerors. Many states in the Muslim world are experiencing serious threats to their water resources: some suffer from drought and others from floods, poor water quality, and so on. If these threats are not attended to within a culturally meaningful framework, they may spiral into social tensions and, potentially, into violent conflict. The Islamic rules for human-environment relations and the rewards and penalties attached to them are consistent with the very definition of the word "environment," which suggests the active encompassing of the natural, human, and cultural spheres, and some level of reciprocity. In other words, as the Quran and hadith teach Muslims, the environment is not a static phenomenon that can be impacted without consequences.
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