Week 2: Islam & Sustainable Development

Hye! Welcome back to my blog😆 So, this evening I had learnt a new topic which is 'Islam & Sustainable Development'. So what is the concept of sustainable development in Islam? Based on what I learnt in the class, it is the balanced and simultaneous realization of consumer welfare, economic efficiency, attainment of social justice, and ecological balance in framework of an evolutionary knowledge-based, socially interactive model defining the shuratic process.

Yes! Actually, the concept of sustainable development is not a new concept for Muslim. This is because we, as Muslims, already know about it through our 2 ultimate sources which are Al-Quran and Hadith. They both have provided and guided us with the framework for the spiritual and physical welfare of humanity.

We always hear that there are only 2 relationships that we have to take care of when being a Muslim. They are the relationship with Allah and the relationship with the fellow human being. We always said them in Arabic words which are Hablum Minallah (حَبْلٍ مِّنْ اللَّهِ) and Hablum Minannas (حَبْلٍ مِّنَ النَّاسِ). But, there is actually one more relationship that also needed to take care of which is the relationship with the environment. These 3 relationships are also known as the 'Triple Helix Relationship'.

So, there is a relationship between Islam and 3 main pillars before which are environmental, social and economic to achieve mizan which is the balanced sustainable development.

Islam & Social Sustainability

In this world, there are many other religions other than Islam such as Jews, Christian, Buddha and Hindhu. As Muslims, even though we believe that there is no other God except Allah, we still need to respect each other by not judging the other believers. This is because all people are the creation of Allah SWT. In order to achieve Rahmatan Lil Alamin, we need to make sure these 3 things which are a man as Khalifah on earth, Amanah as fundamental governance of society, and the concept of Shura. Other than that, Arkanul Islam and Arkanul Iman also help Muslims to be a better Muslim.

Islam & Environmental Sustainability

Other than respecting other people, we also need to respect all the environment and surroundings such as water, minerals, land, forests, fish and wildlife, arable soil, air and sunlight. These all are also the creation of Allah SWT. We as Muslims should be grateful as these environmental elements and resources still exist. This is because, without air, we cannot breathe as we breathe now, without sunlight, we cannot see anything as all places are dark, and without water, the land will be drought and all humans and animals will starve to death.

Islam & Economic Sustainability

One of Arkanul Islam states that as Muslims, we need to pay zakat. It is shown that the action of paying zakat is really important in Islam. But why? In this world, there are many people who are very poor and not able to get and do some work in order to get money. With the existence of zakat, it provides a fundamental mechanism in addressing financial and welfare issue. In Islam, we already learnt that we always have to be sympathy and help each other. By helping other people, Allah SWT will send other people to help us.

Other than zakat, Islam also teaches us to give sadaqah and waqf our property to other people. Sadaqah is an action where you give someone things or money with good intention. Sadaqah is not an action that cannot be designed solely because when we give sadaqah with other intention, the value of giving sadaqah will be lost. For Waqf, it is an action where you give your property to other people for their uses. For examples, a man had waqf his land for the building of new tahfiz centre and a man had waqf his Al-Quran for the mosque.

I think that is all for this week. See you in the next post!!