Islamic ethical teachings on environmental ethics: HSC Studies of Religion

What this dot point is asking

In each depth study the syllabus asks you to "describe and explain" the tradition's ethical teachings in ONE area: bioethics, environmental ethics or sexual ethics. This page covers Islamic environmental ethics. You need to know:

1. Where the teachings come from (the Qur'an, the Sunnah and the methods of Islamic law).
2. The key teachings, each with a precise source, and the principal beliefs they rest on.
3. How Muslims apply them to issues such as climate change, water, waste and the treatment of animals, including differences in emphasis.

The ethics question appears every year: a 5-mark "explain how ONE teaching encourages adherents to do good" (2023), a 2 plus 5-mark "outline a teaching and explain how it is reflected" (2024), a 5-mark "explain TWO ethical teachings" (2025, where NESA's own sample answer used environmental ethics, with mizan and khalifah) and a 20-mark extended response on how ethical teachings help adherents "navigate the world today" (2025).

The answer

Where Islamic ethical teaching comes from

Islam does not separate ethics from worship: both belong to shari'ah, the path God sets for human life. Muslims derive ethical teachings from:

• The Qur'an, the word of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, in which the natural world (rain, rivers, plants, animals, the sky) is a constant theme.
• The Sunnah, the Prophet's example, recorded in the hadith collections such as Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
• Ijma (consensus of scholars) and qiyas (reasoning by analogy from an established ruling to a new case).
• Ijtihad (independent scholarly reasoning), expressed in a fatwa (a scholar's considered opinion). Modern problems such as climate change or plastic pollution are not named in the texts, so scholars reason from the principles below.

Jurists also ask how a ruling serves the maqasid al-shari'ah (the purposes of the law), classically the protection of religion, life, intellect, lineage and property, and the maslahah (public good). Many modern scholars argue that protecting the environment is necessary for every one of these purposes, since none can be secured on a degraded earth.

The principal beliefs underneath

Tawhid (the oneness of God)

God is the sole Creator and owner: "To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth" (Qur'an 2:284; also 4:126, "ever is Allah, of all things, encompassing"). Nature is therefore not humanity's property, and all of it worships God in its own way: "to Allah prostrates whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth and the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the trees, the moving creatures" (22:18).

Creation as signs (ayat)

The Qur'an repeatedly calls natural phenomena "signs for a people who use reason" (2:164; 13:3). Damaging creation damages the signs that point people to God.

Akhirah (the afterlife and judgement)

Humans will be raised and judged. Environmental conduct is part of that account, which gives the teachings their weight.

Teaching 1: Khalifah (stewardship)

God told the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority (khalifah)" (Qur'an 2:30), and "it is He who has made you successors upon the earth ... that He may try you through what He has given you" (6:165). The Prophet said: "The world is sweet and green (alluring) and verily Allah is going to install you as vicegerent in it in order to see how you act" (Sahih Muslim 2742).

Explained. A khalifah is a steward acting on another's behalf, not an owner. Humans have authority over the earth only to manage it as God wills, and the role is explicitly a test. This is the teaching most answers lead with, and NESA's 2025 sample answer called it "stewardship": "All Muslims are called to be Khalifs, good stewards of the earth."

Teaching 2: Amanah (trust)

"Indeed, we offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, and they declined to bear it and feared it; but man [undertook to] bear it. Indeed, he was unjust and ignorant" (Qur'an 33:72).

Explained. Humans alone accepted moral responsibility, including responsibility for creation. A trust must be returned intact, so the amanah implies care for future generations. The verse's warning ("unjust and ignorant") recognises that humans often fail the trust, which is why accountability follows.

Teaching 3: Mizan (balance) and the prohibition of fasad

"And the heaven He raised and imposed the balance. That you not transgress within the balance. And establish weight in justice and do not make deficient the balance" (Qur'an 55:7 to 9). "Indeed, all things We created with predestination (qadar, due measure)" (54:49); the earth grows "every well-balanced thing" (15:19).

Upsetting that balance is fasad (corruption, disorder): "Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by [reason of] what the hands of people have earned so He may let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done that perhaps they will return [to righteousness]" (30:41). "And cause not corruption upon the earth after its reformation" (7:56). The Qur'an condemns the person who strives "to cause corruption therein and destroy crops and animals" (2:205).

Explained. Creation is an ordered, measured whole. Pollution, species loss, over-extraction and climate disruption transgress the mizan. Qur'an 30:41 is widely quoted by Muslim environmentalists because it names human action as the cause of disorder in "land and sea" and invites people to "return", that is, to repent and change.

Teaching 4: Moderation and the prohibition of waste (israf)

"Eat and drink, but be not excessive. Indeed, He likes not those who commit excess" (Qur'an 7:31; the same command follows the harvest in 6:141). "Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils" (17:27).

Explained. Islam values moderation (the Muslim community is called "a just community", ummatan wasatan, literally a community of the middle way, in 2:143). Consumption beyond need is a moral fault, not only a practical one. The Prophet modelled restraint: he "used to take a bath with one Sa' up to five Mudds of water and used to perform ablution with one Mudd of water" (Sahih al-Bukhari 201), a mudd being roughly two cupped handfuls. A widely quoted hadith in which the Prophet tells Sa'd not to waste water in wudu "even if you are on the bank of a flowing river" (Sunan Ibn Majah 425) expresses the same idea, but hadith scholars grade its chain weak, so it is better used alongside Bukhari 201 than on its own.

Teaching 5: Mercy to animals and all creatures

"There is no creature on [or within] the earth or bird that flies with its wings except [that they are] communities like you" (Qur'an 6:38). The Prophet is "a mercy to the worlds" (21:107), and he taught: "Be merciful on the earth, and you will be shown mercy from Who is above the heavens" (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1924).

Two hadith are standard evidence:

• A man who climbed down a well to fill his shoe with water for a thirsty dog was thanked and forgiven by God; asked whether there is reward for serving animals, the Prophet said, "Yes, there is a reward for serving any animate" (Sahih al-Bukhari 2363).
• "A woman entered the (Hell) Fire because of a cat which she had tied, neither giving it food nor setting it free to eat from the vermin of the earth" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3318).

Even permitted killing must be humane: "Verily Allah has enjoined goodness to everything; so when you kill, kill in a good way and when you slaughter, slaughter in a good way" (Sahih Muslim 1955), which underlies the rules of halal slaughter.

Teaching 6: Shared resources, protected land and cultivation

• Common goods. "Muslims have common share in three (things): grass, water and fire" (Sunan Abi Dawud 3477, graded sahih). Essential resources cannot be monopolised.
• Hima (protected zones). "No Hima except for Allah and His Apostle"; the Prophet made an-Naqi' a hima, and the caliph Umar protected further land for grazing the animals of zakat (Sahih al-Bukhari 2370). A hima is land reserved for the common good, and modern Muslim environmentalists point to it as an Islamic model for protected areas.
• Reviving land. "He who cultivates land that does not belong to anybody is more rightful (to own it)" (Sahih al-Bukhari 2335), encouraging productive care of barren land.
• Planting as charity. "There is none amongst the Muslims who plants a tree or sows seeds, and then a bird, or a person or an animal eats from it, but is regarded as a charitable gift for him" (Sahih al-Bukhari 2320; also Sahih Muslim 1552).
• Not fouling shared places. The Prophet warned against relieving oneself "in the watering places and on the thoroughfares, and in the shade" (Sunan Abi Dawud 26), an early rule protecting water and public space. "Cleanliness is half of faith" (Sahih Muslim 223).

Applying the teachings to issues today

Contemporary Muslim responses

• Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an Iranian philosopher, is often treated as the founder of Islamic environmental thought: lectures he gave at the University of Chicago in 1966 argued that the environmental crisis is at root a spiritual crisis caused by treating nature as a mere resource.
• IFEES (Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences) was founded in Birmingham, England, in 1994 by Fazlun Khalid. It runs green mosque, tree-planting (Schools4Trees), plastic-free iftar and training projects, and NESA's 2025 sample answer used it as its example.
• The Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change (2015), drafted by a team of Muslim scholars and environmentalists including IFEES, was addressed to the Paris climate conference (COP21). Grounded in the Qur'an and the Prophet's example ("a mercy to all beings"), it called on "well-off nations and oil-producing states" to phase out greenhouse gas emissions "no later than the middle of the century", to stay within the "2 degree" limit "or, preferably, within the '1.5 degree' limit", and on all nations to commit to "100 % renewable energy and/or a zero emissions strategy as early as possible".
• Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth (2024) is a statement of Islamic environmental principles developed by Muslim scholars, built around the concept of mizan.

Diversity and debate within Islam

• Shared core, different emphases. Sunni and Shi'a Muslims share these Qur'anic teachings. Sufi-influenced thinkers such as Nasr stress the spiritual unity of creation; jurists stress law, maslahah and the maqasid; activists stress practical campaigns.
• Taskhir (subjection). God "has subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth" (45:13). Some have read this as permission to use nature freely; environmental scholars answer that the same verse calls creation "signs for a people who give thought", and that what is subjected remains God's (2:284) and held in trust (33:72).
• No central authority. Fatwas and declarations guide but do not bind all Muslims, so practice varies between communities and countries.
• Teaching and practice. Many Muslim-majority economies depend on oil and gas, and some face severe water stress. Muslim environmentalists use the teachings above precisely to critique that gap.

The effect on the expression of Islam

Environmental ethics shows that Islam is a complete way of life (din): caring for creation is worship (ibadah), not a separate secular concern. It has shaped religious practice (frugal wudu, humane halal slaughter, eco-conscious Ramadan), new institutions (IFEES, green mosques) and international Muslim statements. It also lets Muslims contribute to interfaith and public debate on climate change from within their own tradition, a link to the Religion and Belief Systems in Australia post-1945 topic of interfaith dialogue. For Australian Muslims (3.2% of the population in the 2021 Census), these teachings offer a way to take part in national debates on climate and water as Muslims, drawing on the Qur'an and Sunnah rather than setting faith aside.

In one sentence

Because God alone owns creation (tawhid), Muslims hold the earth as khalifah under an amanah for which they will answer at the Judgement, and so must keep God's mizan, avoid fasad and israf, show mercy to animals and share resources, teachings that shape Muslim responses to climate change, water, waste and biodiversity today.

Try this

Q1. Outline the teaching of mizan with a Qur'anic reference. (2 marks)

• What the marker wants. Balance in creation established by God; Qur'an 55:7 to 9; do not transgress it.

Q2. Explain how the Sunnah of the Prophet guides Muslim attitudes to animals. (4 marks)

• What the marker wants. Bukhari 2363 (the dog), Bukhari 3318 (the cat), Muslim 1955 (slaughter in a good way), linked to mercy and accountability.

Q3. Evaluate the contribution of Islamic ethical teachings to responses to climate change. (8 marks)

• What the marker wants. Teachings with sources, real responses (2015 declaration, IFEES, green mosques), and a judgement that weighs their motivating power against the limits of non-binding guidance and economic realities.