Knowledge and Cosmic Sustainability in Contemporary Islam: From Environmental Ethics to a Green Knowledge Culture

Öz

Cosmic sustainability is an evolving discourse among present-day religions, including Islam. In the contemporary Islamic tradition, one may observe a growing consciousness towards environmental sustainability. It recognises the right of material nature to cohabit with human beings, marking a potential for Muslim communities to contribute to environmental conservation. This perspective highlights the importance of recognising the interdependence of divine, human and cosmic realities, as well as the necessity of environmental care within religious traditions. Hence, Islam is concerned with the human common good (masalih al-nas) and the cosmic common good (masalih al-‘alam). Such an inclination and obligation towards environmental sustainability are extremely sought after in today’s world to mitigate the climate crisis. There have been some efforts among Muslim scholars to develop Islamic environmental ethics; however, the elaboration of green knowledge is still limited. This study investigates the dynamic interplay between Islam, knowledge culture, and the cosmic common good. Most specifically, it addresses two interconnected research problems: (a) How is environmental ethics elaborated among contemporary Muslim scholars? (b) How can Muslims’ commitment towards environmental protection be developed into a green knowledge culture? This paper argues that the contribution of Muslim communities to ecological sustainability will become greater if the commitment to addressing the environmental crisis is transformed not only into ‘environmental ethics’ but also into a ‘green knowledge culture’. This ‘green knowledge culture” will help Muslims develop a culture of knowledge production and application that is friendly towards the environment.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• green knowledge culture
• environmental ethics
• cosmic common good
• climate crisis
• contemporary Islam

Kaynakça

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