Islamic Environmental Stewardship: Nature and Science in the Light of Islamic Philosophy

Harmony

It is Islamic belief that humanity has a divinely ordained responsibility to act with care for the natural world and not to transgress the balance and harmony placed within it.8 Within the Qur’an, humans are portrayed as God’s vicegerents and stewards of the earth.9 In this role, the human purpose is to return to the primordial self and thus return to God by reflecting His names and characteristics in this life-all within the boundaries of a divinely ordained balance while maintaining a divinely set harmony.

Within this harmony, the natural world is in a constant state of prostration to God.10 Nature’s constant worship of God serves as a foundation to its peaceful harmony. Lightning, birds, mountains and all other natural creatures and phenomena live by laws that set the harmony existent in nature today.11 In each honeybee’s flawless worship of God, it cannot but contribute to a honey-making process and fulfill its role for the sake of God within His ordained balance. For this reason, it is not flora or fauna that wreaks havoc on earth, but rather humans. Humanity has the free will to not worship God, while nature has no choice but to do so. It is thus the role of humanity, as God’s vicegerents, that each human maintain harmony within the inward self and outward environment. God willing, through preservation of such harmony, peace may be attained in this world and the next.