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

Islam and Science

Integral to finding a solution to the environmental crisis is a study of modern science’s role in it. Modern science, with its great capabilities for both construction and destruction, has been the means by which people today have drastically increased their negative impact on Earth. However, through specific scientific initiatives such as environmental engineering, modern science can also serve as a contributive means to solving this crisis. Therefore, specific aspects of the history of science must be studied in order to properly understand science’s role in the environmental crisis as both a cause of the problem and a potential ameliorator of it.

It is also important to undergo such a study under the lenses of universal sacred traditions. The separation of science from sacred tradition, and thus also the loss of the sacred sciences, is indeed a contributing factor to the human abuse of nature today. Given the Islamic reverence for nature and the rich history between Islam and science, a study of both science and nature under an Islamic lens can prove constructive to an understanding of the subject at hand. Such a study can give its conductors insight to the faulty axioms within modern science, as well as provide a perception of modern day humanity’s latent ability to regain harmony with nature.