Reconceptualizing human-nature relations in Islamic environmental ethics

A Qur’anic framework of ecological responsibility

Abstract

The escalating global environmental crisis has encouraged renewed attention to religious perspectives on the relationship between humans and the natural world. Within Islamic environmental ethics, stewardship has often been used to explain human responsibility towards creation, yet this approach can retain an anthropocentric understanding of human authority. This study examines this tension and develops a relational Qur’anic framework of ecological responsibility based on five concepts: khalīfah (succession and responsibility), amānah (trust), umam (communities of creation), mīzān (balance), and fasād (corruption and disorder). The study employs a qualitative, normative-theological, and comparative approach, using thematic-hermeneutical analysis of relevant Qur’anic passages and selected classical and contemporary Islamic scholarship. The analysis shows that these concepts, when considered together, place limits on human authority and connect human agency with responsibility, ecological balance, and accountability. The study argues that this integrated reading provides a broader understanding of ecological responsibility that extends beyond individual stewardship to questions of collective human conduct and environmental responsibility. This approach contributes to Islamic environmental ethics by bringing established Qur’anic concepts together into a coherent account of human–nature relations.