Islamic Ecotheology

Transcending Anthropocentrism through Wahdat al-Wujūd

Authors

  • Rüdiger Lohlker University of Vienna

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53754/iscs.v4i2.705

Keywords:

anthropocentrism, deep ecology, ecological crisis, intrinsic value, Islamic ecotheology, tawhīd, wahdat al-wujūd

Abstract

The question addressed in this article is a possible new epistemological framework to find solutions to the current crisis. The analysis began with the idea of creation as a holistic concept. The problem discussed here is related to the relationship between transcendence and immanence. The discussion is based on the approach of Oneness or Unity of Being (wahdat al-wujūd) developed by Ibn ΄Arabī. This Sufi approach is supplemented by an outlook on modern scientific epistemologies. This article proposes a new epistemology based on the Oneness of Being, an outlook into the immanent thinking of the Deleuzian style, and modern scientific approaches, especially from advanced biology. Thus, this article attempts to overcome the problems arising from pre-modern thinking.

 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Abedisarvestani, A., & Shahvali, M. (2008). Environmental ethics: Toward an Islamic perspective. American-Eurasian Journal of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, 3(4), 609–617.

Abrahamov, B. (1998). Islamic theology: Traditionalism and rationalism. Edinburgh University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctvxcrx1d

Ahmed, S. (2016). What is Islam?: The importance of being Islamic. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvc77krt

al-Jīlī, ʿAbd al-Karīm. (2002). Un commentaire ésotérique de la formule inaugurale du Coran: Les mystères cryptographiques de Bismi-Llâhi-r-Rahmân r-Rahîm, translated and commented by Jâbir Clément-François. Bouraq.

al-Jīlī, ʿAbd al-Karīm. (2013). al-Insān al-kāmil fī maʿrifat al-awākhir wa’l-awāʾil. Al-Kāmil.

al-Zabīdī, M. M. al-H. (2001). Tāj al-ʿarūs min jawāhir al-qamūs (Vol. 36, ʿA. al-ʿAzabāwī, Ed.). Muʾassasat al-Kuwait li-Taqaddum al-ʿilmī.

Bauer, T. (2011). Die Kultur der Ambiguität: Eine andere Geschichte des Islams. Insel Verlag.

Bloom, J. M., & Blair, S. (Eds.). (2015). God is the light of the heavens and the earth: Light in Islamic art and culture. Yale University Press.

Brotton, M. J. (Ed.). (2017). Ecotheology and nonhuman ethics in society: A community of compassion. Lexington Books.

Dagli, C. K. (2016). Ibn al-ʿArabī and Islamic intellectual culture: From mysticism to philosophy. Routledge.

Deleuze, G. (1987). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. University of Minnesota Press.

Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (2000). Was ist Philosophie? Suhrkamp.

Dhahnani, A. (1994). The physical theory of kalām: Atoms, space, and void in Basrian Mu'tazili cosmology. Brill.

Foltz, R. C., Denny, F. M., & Baharuddin, A. H. (2003). Islam and ecology: A bestowed trust. Harvard University Press.

Gade, A. M. (2019). Muslim environmentalisms: Religious and social foundations. Columbia University Press.

Haraway, D. J. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822373780

Hufnagel, L. (Ed.). (2023). Ecotheology: Sustainability and religions of the world. IntechOpen.

Kowanda-Yassin, U. (2021). "Die Grüne Moschee": Der Beitrag von Moscheegemeinden zur Entwicklung nachhaltiger ökologischer Grundhaltungen. Project report.

Latuapo, A., & Farid, M. (2024). Kabata Banda & the significance of Islamic eco-theology education. Jurnal Cakrawala Pendidikan, 43(3). https://doi.org/10.21831/cp.v43i3.60323

Lohlker, R. (2019). ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī, Waḥdat al-Wujūd, and reconfiguring epistemology. ULUMUNA, 23(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.20414/ujis.v23i1.362

Lory, P. (2009). ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī. Encyclopaedia of Islam Three Online. https://referenceworks-brill-com.uaccess.univie.ac.at/display/entries/EI3O/COM-22929.xml

Mendoza, S. L., & Zachariah, G. (2022). Introduction. In S. L. Mendoza & G. Zachariah (Eds.), Decolonizing ecotheology: Indigenous and subaltern challenges (pp. 13–20). Pickwick Publications.

Morrissey, F. (2021). Sufism and the Scriptures: Metaphysics and Sacred History in the Thought of ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī. I.B. Tauris.

Nagel, T. (2002). Im Offenkundigen das Verborgene: Die Heilszusage des sunnitischen Islams. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Nagel, T. (2022). In Allahs Kosmos: Eine Abhandlung über das Menschsein im Islam. De Gruyter.

Nasr, S. H. (2003). Islam, the contemporary Islamic world, and the environmental crisis. In R. Foltz, F. Denny, & A. Baharuddin (Eds.), Islamic theology: A bestowed trust (pp. 85–105). Harvard University Press.

Ouis, S. P. (1998). Islamic ecotheology based on the Qur’ān. Islamic Studies, 37(2), 151–181.

Qomariyyah, N., & Saifuddin, A. (2022). Ṭarīqa followers and inner peace: A phenomenological study of the Naqshbandiyya-Khālidiyya order in Indonesia. Teosofia: Indonesian Journal of Islamic Mysticism, 11(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.21580/tos.v11i1.10503

Rahmat, A. (2022). Islamic ecotheology: Understanding the concept of Khalīfa and the ethical responsibility of the environment. Academic Journal of Islamic Principles and Philosophy, 3(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.22515/ajipp.v3i1.5104

Rasngat, N. F., & Jusnaidi, M. Z. M. (2015). Islamic ecotheology vs deep ecology: An outlook of basic principles. Jurnal Pengajian Islam, Akademi Islam, Kuis, 8(1), 112–130.

Rizvi, A. M. (2010). Islamic environmental ethics and the challenge of anthropocentrism. The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, 27(3), 53–79.

Sayem, M. A. (2019). Seyyed Hossein Nasr's works on environmental issues: A survey. Islamic Studies, 58(3), 439–451.

Van Ess, J. (2006). The flowering of Muslim theology. Harvard University Press.

Winter, T. (2008). Introduction. In T. Winter (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology(pp. 1–16). Cambridge University Press.

Ziai, H. (2008). Islamic philosophy (falsafa). In T. Winter (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology (pp. 55–76). Cambridge University Press.

Published

2024-11-04

How to Cite

Lohlker, R. (2024). Islamic Ecotheology: Transcending Anthropocentrism through Wahdat al-Wujūd. Ascarya: Journal of Islamic Science, Culture, and Social Studies, 4(2), 82–89. https://doi.org/10.53754/iscs.v4i2.705

Issue

Section

Islamic Science
CITATION
DOI: 10.53754/iscs.v4i2.705
Published: 2024-11-04