Theology as Centre: An Examination of Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī’s Ecotheological Thought in Riʿāyah al-Bīʾah fī Sharīʿah al-Islām
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15575/jaqfi.v11i2.57170Keywords:
Islamic Ecotheology, Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī, Khalīfah fī al-Arḍ, Riʿāyah al-BīʿahAbstract
This article examines the ecotheological thought of Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī (d. 2022) as articulated in Riʿāyah al-Bīʾah fī Sharīʿah al-Islām, situating it as a response to the charge that the theological paradigm of Islam, particularly its anthropocentrism, has aggravated the modern ecological crisis. Reading the work in its entirety, the article addresses two fundamental questions: whether Islam must revise its anthropocentric paradigm to meet ecological demands, and how it might configure that paradigm so as to help resolve the tension between religion and ecological crisis. This research finds that al-Qaraḍāwī’s ecotheology is theocentric in its grounding, where value rests with the standing of creatures before God, and weakly anthropocentric in its application, where obligation is specified through maqāṣid and taklīf indexed to human welfare. Within this framework the human status as khalīfah fī al-arḍ is a theological trust, examined through five Islamic disciplines, namely Uṣūl al-Dīn, ʿIlm al-Sulūk, Fiqh, Uṣūl al-Fiqh, and ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān wa al-Sunnah. Because that trust is conferred rather than constitutive, it can also be forfeited—a feature distinguishing his theocentrism from Arne Naess’ deep ecology, from Bryan Norton’s weak anthropocentrism, and from Sarra Tlili’s non-hierarchical theocentrism. The article concludes that Islamic theological cosmology may form part of the solution to the ecological crisis, provided it is comprehended, internalised, and actualised, though al-Qaraḍāwī entrusts actualisation to legislation and sanction, which secures the conduct his framework requires while leaving its theological warrant unprotected
References
Abu Zayd, Nasr Hamid. Mafhum Al-Nash: Dirasah Fi ʿUlum al-Qurʼān. Al-Markaz al-Tsaqafi al-ʿAraby, 2014.
Al-Qaradawi, Yusuf. Riʿāyah al-Bīʿah Fī Sharīʿah al-Islām. Dar al-Syuruq, 2001.
Ali, Dr. Muhamed, and Dr. Muaz Agushi. ‘Eco-Islam: Integrating Islamic Ethics into Environmental Policy for Sustainable Living’. International Journal of Religion 5, no. 9 (2024): 949–57. https://doi.org/10.61707/gq0we205.
Bauman, Whitney A., Richard Bohannon, and Kevin J. O’Brien. Grounding Religion: A Field Guide to the Study of Religion and Ecology. Routledge, 2010.
Beringer, Almut. ‘Reclaiming a Sacred Cosmology: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, the Perennial Philosophy, and Sustainability Education’. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education 11 (January 2006).
Berry, Thomas. The Great Work: Our Way into the Future. Crown, 2011.
Bratton, Susan P., and Stephanie Cli Boddie, eds. Handbook on Religion and the Environment. Elgar Handbooks in Energy, the Environment and Climate Change. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026.
Din, Mūʼil Yūsuf ʿIzz. The Environmental Dimensions of Islam. James Clarke & Co., 2000.
Foltz, Richard C., Frederick Mathewson Denny, and Azizan Haji Baharuddin. Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust. Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, 2003.
Gade, Anna M. Muslim Environmentalisms: Religious and Social Foundations. Columbia University Press, 2019. https://doi.org/10.7312/gade19104.
Gottlieb, Roger S. A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet’s Future. Oxford University Press, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176483.001.0001.
Gottlieb, Roger S., ed. The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology. Oxford University Press, 2006.
Grey, William. ‘Anthropocentrism and Deep Ecology’. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 71, no. 4 (1993): 463–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/00048409312345442.
Grim, John, and Mary Evelyn Tucker. Ecology and Religion. Island Press, 2014.
Hart, John, ed. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Ecology. 1st edn. Wiley, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118465523.
Hayward, Tim. Anthropocentrism: A Misunderstood Problem. 6, no. 1 (1997): 49–63.
Helfaya, Akrum, Amr Kotb, and Rasha Hanafi. ‘Qurʼanic Ethics for Environmental Responsibility: Implications for Business Practice’. Journal of Business Ethics 150, no. 4 (2018): 1105–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3195-6.
Heriyanto, Husein. Menggali Nalar Saintifik Peradaban Islam. Mizan, 2011.
Hidayatullah, Aysha A. Feminist Edges of the Qurʼān. Oxford University Press, 2014.
Jenkins, Willis. ‘After Lynn White: Religious Ethics and Environmental Problems’. The Journal of Religious Ethics 37, no. 2 (2009).
Karimullah, Suud Sarim. ‘Humanitarian Ecology: Balancing Human Needs and Environmental Preservation in Islamic Law’. Asy-Syariʼah 26, no. 2 (2025): 101–20. https://doi.org/10.15575/as.v26i2.38177.
Keraf, A. Sonny. Etika Lingkungan Hidup. Penerbit Buku Kompas, 2010.
Kidner, David W. ‘Why “Anthropocentrism” Is Not Anthropocentric’. Dialectical Anthropology, Unsettling Anthropocentrism, vol. 38, no. 4 (2014).
Kopnina, Helen, Haydn Washington, Bron Taylor, and John J Piccolo. ‘Anthropocentrism: More than Just a Misunderstood Problem’. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 31, no. 1 (2018): 109–27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-018-9711-1.
Kurdi, Alif Jabal. ‘Tafsir Ekologi: Telaah Atas Penafsiran Yusuf al-Qaraḍāwi Dalam Kitab Riʼāyah al-Bīʼah fī Syarīʼah al-Islām’. Skripsi, UIN Sunan Kalijaga, 2019. https://digilib.uin-suka.ac.id/id/eprint/38417/.
Lajnah Pentashihan Mushaf al-Qurʼān (LPMQ). Tafsir Ayat-Ayat Ekologi. Badan Litbang dan Diklat Kementerian Agama, 2025.
Lohlker, Rüdiger. ‘Islamic Ecotheology: Transcending Anthropocentrism through Wahdat al-Wujūd’. Ascarya: Journal of Islamic Science, Culture, and Social Studies 4, no. 2 (2024): 82–89. https://doi.org/10.53754/iscs.v4i2.705.
Mubarak, Hadia. ‘Women’s Contemporary Readings of the Qur’an’. In The Routledge Companion to the Qur’an, 1st edn, by George Archer, Maria M. Dakake, and Daniel A. Madigan. Routledge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315885360-32.
Naess, Arne. ‘The Shallow and the Deep, Long-range Ecology Movement. A Summary’. Inquiry 16, nos 1–4 (1973): 95–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/00201747308601682.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man. George Allen and Unwin, 1986.
Northcott, Michael. A Political Theology of Climate Change. Wm B Eerdmans, 2013.
Norton, Bryan G. ‘Environmental Ethics and Weak Anthropocentrism’. In The Ethics of the Environment. Routledge, 2008.
Özdemir, İbrahim. ‘Islamic Ecotheology: Foundations and Challenges’. In Handbook on Religion and the Environment, edited by Susan Power Bratton et al. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035321872.00011.
Palmer, Martin, and Victoria Finlay. Faith in Conservation: New Approaches to Religions and the Environment. World Bank Publications, 2003.
Quadir, Tarik M. Traditional Islamic Environmentalism: The Vision of Seyyed Hossein Nasr. 1st edn. University Press of America, 2013.
Sessions, George, and Bill Devall. Deep Ecology: Living as If Nature Mattered. Gibbs Smith, 2001.
Shihab, M. Quraish. Islam & Lingkungan: Perspektif Al-Qurʼān Menyangkut Pemeliharaan Lingkungan. Lentera Hati, 2023.
Smart, Ninian. Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs. Scribner’s, 1983.
Sugiant, Reza Nurdiana, and Mohd Solahuddin Shahruddin. ‘Holy Earth: Harnessing Religious Ethics and Faith-Based Action to Combat Climate Change’. Socio Politica: Jurnal Ilmiah Jurusan Sosiologi 15, no. 1 (2025): 115–24. https://doi.org/10.15575/socio-politica.v15i1.44852.
Troster, Lawrence. ‘What Is Eco-Theology?’ CrossCurrents 63, no. 4 (2013).
Tucker, Mary Evelyn. Religion and Ecology. Oxford University Press, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195178722.003.0019.
White, Lynn. ‘The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis’. American Association for the Advancement of Science 155, no. 3767 (1967).
