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Islam and Environmentalism

Environmental and animal ethics are among the main research and teaching clusters of the center. The current human impact on the environment and the part played by Muslims in this impact call for serious engagement with this topic. The last couple of centuries have witnessed the extinction of hundreds of thousands of animal species, change in groundwater conditions, and stratospheric ozone depletion, to cite only a few of the catastrophic environmental changes. Muslims have not only played a major part in this deterioration, but their environmental impact seems even to be increasing as they try to cope with the pressures of modern life. The center seeks to generate and sustain research on both the normative and empirical dimensions of this topic. It will thus promote research that explores, rethinks and engages the tradition in search for possible answers to the current environmental dilemmas. It will also promote research that investigates Muslims’ interactions with and attitudes toward their environments and nonhuman life from social, political, economic, historical, and other vantage points.

Faculty

  • Sarra Tlili, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures