In this course on Western Religions and Ecology, we're going to conclude with a section on Islam and Ecology into the Present, and discuss these pathways of orienting, grounding, nurturing, and transforming the tendencies of this tradition to move into a religious ecology and religious cosmology. An overview of Islam into the present, then includes its role in the emergence of what we associate with complex ideas of modernity in the West. This is because philosophy and science in the West, are heavily indebted to the transmission of both Hellenic, and Islamic developments in these disciplines. Indeed late Medieval and early Renaissance thinkers in Europe, benefited enormously from contact with Islamic texts and commentaries. This accounts for the revival of Greek classical thought and an appreciation of Muslim thinkers in the field of philosophy, mathematics, and science. Thus modernity in the West was shaped in part by the contributions of Islam, for example the thought of Aristotle, was largely unknown until transmitted by Muslim thinkers through the Iberian Peninsula into Europe. Such major scientific studies as those in medicine by Ibn Sina or Avicenna, and those in mathematics by Al-Khwarizmi, along with many others including, astronomers found fertile ground for Renaissance thinkers. What is still debated, are the myriad ways in which Muslim thought, transitioned into European setting, that was increasingly oriented to a mechanistic deism, and an emerging secular and scientific worldview. A division arose between faith and reason in both the Islamic and European settings, Islam remained committed to a theological perspective, in which the divine sustains reality even as God maintains his radical transcendence. In contrast, Europe moved increasingly in the direction of rationalism and science, these tensions between reason and faith are ongoing today. When we did the Daedalus volume in 2001, there's an excellent article there by Professor Noman L. Hawk and he notes, that there are complex historical legacies of colonial power, control, and values that were imposed on the Islamic world. These are embedded in the responses of contemporary Islam to global issues such as the environment, these concern political power, social norms, secular lifestyles, intellectual ethos, all of which were impacted and changed by European dominance over Islam in the colonial period and into the present. Moreover, the reasons for our global environmental crises, are debated in the Islamic world, namely whether they are caused by Western sciences, technologies, extractive industries, and exploitive economies. Nonetheless, there are movements within the Islamic world, that draw on Core Muslim ideas and practices for an Islamic environmental ethics. In its plural forms, we will explore these ideas and practices that are contributing to a contemporary Islamic religious ecology, using the organizing themes of orienting, grounding nurturing, and transforming. I will discuss orienting, John will come back with grounding, and nourishing and I'll conclude with transforming. As we move to this first topic then of orienting, one of the prime values in the Islamic faith, is the transcendence of the divine Allah, this orients the community to the creator God beyond the world. At the same time, there's a recognition of this radical transcendence, as the sustaining source on which the entire world depends, this dual orienting to the Divine has implications for attitudes towards nature, namely valuing it. Because the transcendence is implied in the creator of all things as well. From these perspectives, Muslim communities need not ignore the natural world and the ecological problems they face. The problems are enormous, drought and desertification in the Sudan, flooding in Bangladesh where thousands of people were uprooted, and the same in Pakistan, 30,000 people affected by flooding several years ago. As we know deforestation in Indonesia, and other parts of the Islamic world is enormous, rather than a fatalistic acceptance that such disasters are God's will. There's emerging among scholars, clerics, and laypeople, serious theological reflection on ways to respond to these challenges. The following are three areas that are being considered. The first, devotion to God as creator, second, concern for creation as manifesting God's handiwork, and third, fulfilling the trust relationship between humans and the divine. The orienting power then of the transcendent creator God, is being invoked in Islam as a principle to inspire and activate humans, this leads ideally to a profound respect for the created order. A sense of wonder and all can emerge as the faithful appreciate the complexity, and beauty of God's creation. Finally, this ellipsis responsibility to carry forward the trust God bestowed on humans as self-reflexive creatures, this trust empowers humans to be vice gerunds for the natural world. Here then, we have as well, the ways in which revelation in Islam, brings humans to an understanding of the divine and the natural world, which is likened to the raise of a six-pointed star, that is Knowledge in Islam is often associated with six related ideas. Beginning with theology or kallam, complemented by philosophy or falsafa, enriched by mysticism or suf, the Sufis, enhanced by medicine and law or sharia, and finally jurisprudence or fiqh. In the following sections, we discuss first law and jurisprudence, and then mysticism in Islam, as ways in which Islamic communities have transmitted different forms of knowing, that illuminate human divine, human human, and, human earth relations. John will begin with grounding. When we talk about grounding, as a pathway towards the emergence of religious ecologies and religious cosmologies, we're speaking of generative tendencies within the tradition, and in Islam, because humans are given a special role as trustees of the earth, they can perceive themselves as imbedded in, yet caretakers of nature. This embeddedness is guided by norms and practices, that are based on Islamic law and jurisprudence. In Sunni Islam, this guidance is provided by regional councils composed of Islamic lawyers, who formed the Ulama, in contrast for Shiite Islam, law is determined by the imam or religious leader of the community and his decisions are implemented by law courts. Thus humans are not regarded as wandering without direction, rather they are grounded on a path, the path to the watering hole namely sharia or law, and its interpretation namely jurisprudence or fiqh. Islamic law was well-established in the eighth century by the famous jurist, Mohammad Ibn Idris al-Shafi'i. As Islam spread across North Africa towards Spain in the early history of Islam, individual and independent judges were making decisions that had little or no uniformity. Al-Shafi'i proposed four sources of law in Sunni Islam, that became known as Usul al-fiqh or the roots of interpretation of law. In Shiite Islam, the imam continued to be seen as transmitting the grounding and guidance of Mohammed, and no other sources of law were needed or acknowledged that. The four sources for sharia in Islam became the Quran, the Sunna, the stories of the prophet and his companions collected in Hadith. Ijma, the consensus of a community as a basic democratic principle here in Islam, and Qiyas or reasoning by analogy from one source of law to a new challenge. In this way Al-Shafi'i fixed two textual and abiding sources namely the Quran and Hadith, and two changing sources in the consensus of a community and in the interpretation of jurists. The science of jurisprudence, fiqh, emerged in law schools, that brought these four sources of interpretation to bear on issues of community life, in ordinances called Fatwas. These were not seen as law exactly, but rather as edicts or ordinances for a community. By the 10th century of the current era then, four major law schools had developed in Sunni Islam. That were seen as having fully encompassed Islamic life, hence the sense of independent, reasoning, and namely Ijtihad which is composed of Qiyas and Ijma, this interaction of the two. Ijtihad or independent reasoning by jurist, was seen as disruptive and unnecessary deviations from the foundational and comprehensive work of the four law schools, thus Ijtihad or independent reasoning as a source of Sharia was closed in Sunni Islam in the 10th century. In Shiite Islam, the imam alone was seen as continuing Ijtihad or independent reasoning, that his interpretations were not closed and law schools developed that centered on the imam's decisions, and the imams ongoing reasoning in this regard. Both Sharia and Fiqh are blueprints that frame norms and process of values and behavior within Islamic communities. While there are cultural differences in the interpretation across the Islamic world, sharia remains a binding force for Muslim identity and unity. There is genuine and efficacious potential within sharia for developing environmental laws and regulations, that dissemination of environmental law and teachings can take place through local Islamic schools , and community mosques. Moreover and environmental edict or fatwa can have immediate effect in changing behavior. One example of a fatwa was given on January 22nd 2014, by The Indonesian Council of Ulema, this ordinance required the country's 200 million Muslims, to take an active role in protecting threatened species such as tigers, rhinos, elephants, and orangutan. This fatwa is remarkable in the Islamic world, for recognizing that a contemporary environmental problem affecting biodiversity in the wild, had a source in the human community. As a fatwa, it was also followed by educational awareness programs, to help local communities put the ordinance into practice. Let's go then to the next pathway. This generative tendency that we find within traditions and within Islam for individuals, and groups within Islam, spiritual cultivation is a means of nurturing the divine life or light within. As expressed in the well-known niche verse of the Quran, it reads, "God is the light of the heavens and the earth, the likeness of His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp, the lamp in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star, kindled from a blessed tree, an olive that is neither of the East nor of the West, who's oil wellnigh would shine, even if no fire touched it, light upon light, God guides to his light whom he will.' These verses in the Quran inspired various forms of mysticism, that became identified as sober or drunken, namely intensely meditative and silent involuted, as well as ecstatic exuberant and outward flowing. These strands of early Islamic mysticism, eventually led to religious orders that spread across the Islamic world carrying the message of Islam, especially in religious arts and these expressions of spiritual cultivation were named after the simple woolen clothing, or surfs, often worn by these practitioners, hence their religious practices were called Sufism. The Sufis developed a mystical prayer, rituals, dance, music, and poetry, their creative visions helped to spread Islam throughout the Asian and African continents. One of the great founders of a Sufi order, was Jalal ad-Din Rumi, whose poetry continues to be enormously popular into the present and actually well beyond the Islamic world. Indeed his collection, a major collection of poetry and sayings, The Masnavi, was called the Persian Quran. Born in Persia, Jalal ad-Din Rumi fled the Mongol invasions with his family, and founded the order eventually now known as the Mevlevi or whirling dervishes in Konya, which is now located in Turkey. This style of mystical experience has continued for over 700 years into the present, such mystical practice involves the steady pulsating world of dancers, in a circle praying with trance-like devotion being led by a chanter. Embodying this inspiration, disposed Rumi and his followers to a vision of divine light, infusing the world of flesh and nature, the natural world was for Rumi the great chain of being described in neoplatonic thought, ecstatic prayer, and meditation, as we see here. They were understood by Rumi and his followers, as evoking and nurturing that transformation of even rocks and stones, into higher expressions of their being on this great chain of being, moving from the lowest up to the divine realities. Thus the music and the dance, were also felt to bring practitioners, into interstates of divine illumination, a keen to angelic beings. One of the characteristics of Rumi's vision expressed in his poetry, is the unity of humans with God, which we have stressed in Islamic thought, the sense of Tawhid or unity. This unity is often expressed with imagery of the natural world as a changing phenomenon, this imagery of the natural world is abundant in Rumi's poetry, which adds to its widespread appeal. Consider this verse, is a beautiful statement by Rumi, "Joyous spring has arrived and the beloveds message has come, we are drunk with love and intoxicated and cannot be still. Oh my darling one, go forth to the garden, do not leave the beauties of the meadow in expectation. The seed which has died has now found life, the secret which Earth held has now become revealed. The bough which held fruit is glorying for joy, the root which had none is shamefast and ashamed. Overall, the trees of the Spirit will become even so, the tree of excellent boughs and fortunate will be manifest." Verses like this celebrating the fecundity of nature, and its inner nurturing power, are why Rumi is so widely read, even today, and now Mary Evelyn will continue with the pathway of transforming. The final pathway of transforming, to illustrate the religious ecology and religious cosmology of Islam, will take us right into the present. Islamic environmentalism is now emerging with theological statements, community projects, and individual practices, this transformation of a vibrant tradition into modern contexts, manifests the resiliency of Islamic scripture and theology, to speak to ecological challenges. Some of the primary examples of this transformation, are the Islamic Foundation for Ecological and Environmental Sciences, in the UK, IFEES. As well the Green Muslims in the United States are emerging, and in Canada the Khaleafa for the Sacred Trust, has become quite strong. In addition, in 1994, as long ago as that, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the IUCN, published an important document on Islamic ecology namely, Environmental Protection in Islam, was the title. In 2009, over 200 scholars and theologians gathered in Istanbul, and drafted a Muslim seven-year action plan on climate change. IFEES, the Islamic Foundation for Ecological and Environmental Sciences, was one of the very first Muslim organizations. It was founded and directed by a good friend, Fazlun Khalid, who helped us with the Islam and Ecology Conference at Harvard. It's a particularly successful program and one that they initiated, was the effort in Madagascar to halt the dynamiting of coral reefs, by Muslim fishermen when they realize the damage it was causing. A final project to mention is in Indonesia. I visited there quite a few years ago, Bumi Langit. This project is an organic gardening one outside of Jakarta, the ancient capital city. It's had impressive traction especially in Madrassas or the Muslim schools, where along with the university there, Gadja Mada and Jakarta, they are teaching Islamic principles, Qur'anic texts, and so on for protection of the environment. Finally we wanted to mention again the conferences we attended in Iran, in Tehran under the Khatami regime, where they brought together scholars, environmentalists, religious leaders, with the United Nations to discuss in the first conference, World Religions and Ecology. This was in June of 2001, the second one was in the Summer of 2005, concentrating especially on Islam and ecology. Tehran was the place where water was an issue, where some of the rivers had dried up in the ancient capital of Isfahan and where desertification is increasing. The Muslim communities there recognize how important this issue is. In conclusion then, in this brief overview and in some of the theological, mystical, and philosophical reflections, as well as on the ground engaged projects. We're increasingly aware of movements in Islam, to bring forward religious cosmology and religious ecologies clearly implicit in the tradition. Because of the increasing severity of climate change and other environmental issues across the Muslim world, these resources become ever more critical.
