3 Shifting Notions of Nature and Environmentalism in Indonesian Islam

What is it about?

Across the globe, climate change has a variety of impacts on human life. The frequent occurrence of natural disasters such as forest fires, droughts and floods has plunged the livelihoods of many people into crisis. Although often affected by these negative impacts, many countries with a predominantly Muslim population face economic and political problems, and as such climate change is not their first priority. This is exacerbated by the fact that the local population is often unaware of global warming so that it cannot personally relate to it. Indonesia, currently the country with the largest number of Muslims, has been strongly affected by the impacts of climate change. As Muslim religious scholars do have a strong influence on local communities in Indonesia, this article analyzes how Muslim religious scholars affiliated with the Muslim mass organization Nahdlatul Ulama argue for environmentalism. Moreover, it adopts a transnational perspective by looking at how Muslim scholars in other parts of the world argue for environmentalism, based on ideas of nature found in the Qur'an and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (hadith).

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Why is it important?

My findings show that many religious scholars highlight the prominent role of humans as vice regents of God on earth, which not only contains rights but also the duty of preserving nature. The article demonstrates how Muslim scholars construct Islam as a moral-religious counter-model. Moreover, it looks at concrete measures taken to respond to climate change, including institutions such as the Muslim mass organization Nahdlatul Ulama's Climate Change and Disaster Management Institution and religious boarding schools as examples.