The Environmentalist, 23, 97–100, 2003
© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Manufactured in The Netherlands.
Book Reviews
The Environmental Dimensions of Islam, by M. Izzi
Dien, 2000. The Lutterworth Press, Cambridge,
UK, 191 pp., ISBN 0 7188 2960 3, £30 (hard-
back).
There have been at least half a dozen books on
Islam and the environment in recent years, most
of them edited volumes containing largely simi-
lar essays on selected environmental topics. The
present book, more or less, covers the same mate-
rial but does so in greater depth and, perhaps
because it was written by a single author, con-
tains a more unified and comprehensive discourse.
Nevertheless, like the others, this Islamic author
appears unable to go beyond evincing general
principles, and informing us how consonant Islam
is with environmental conservation and protection.
The book consists of nine chapters. Chapter 1
introduces the religion of Islam with a focus on
some of the environmental implications of the
basic beliefs, values, and practices of Muslims.
There is also a comparison of ‘the environmental
and religious experience’ [sic]. Chapter 2 reviews
the chief components of the environment (earth,
climate, water, animals and humans, as perceived
by Islam’s interpreters. Within the Islamic tradi-
tion, the author notes, these components are seen
as being both ‘tangible objects’ and ‘bearers of
intrinsic values.’
Chapter 3 discusses theological concepts,
notably the idea of the Unicity or Oneness of
God (tawhid) which “leads to the unification of
all human energies to act under the command
of [the] Creator. This unification extends itself
to include all the cosmic forces, to be seen as
one force acting in one direction, applying the
Divine order.” It follows, the author states, that
the natural environment is an integral part of
the existence that God intends humans to main-
tain, and to refrain from destroying, for their own
benefit. Another major theological concept dis-
cussed is ‘Responsible Trusteeship’ (khalafa), a
concept not dissimilar to that of the concept of
trusteeship delineated by Christian environmen-
talists. Trusteeship, the author notes, implies priv-
ilege, and not an assumed right.
Chapter 4 takes up the subject of Islamic ethics,
and the author offers us his ‘submission to the
Divine preference theory’ or, in other words, the
determination of ethical preferences according to
the will of the Creator, as revealed in the Quran.
These ethical preferences, according to Islamic
interpreters, clearly include a preference for envi-
ronmental conservation. The author states that
over the years, a practical ethics has evolved into
an administrative system (hisba) which can be used
to supervise and control individual, and collective,
human behavior in the Islamic world. Chapter 5
looks at Islamic law and its foundation in the
Quran, the Sunna and other sources. The author
concludes that “Islamic law


[is] a religious eth-
ical law [which] considers environmental protec-
tion as one of its objectives.”
Chapter 6 explores the relationship between
ecology and economics, and gives the reader a
good overview of Islamic economic principles,
which include balanced resource use, inter-
generational equity, economic justice and benifi-
cence. “Real wealth in Islam” the author points
out “is built on virtue and self-denial, and not
on over-indulgence and exploitation.” Chapter 7
addresses the issue of the public interest (mas-
laha). Here the reader is told that according to
traditional Islamic interpretation, there is no abso-
lute benefit or absolute harm, and in doubtful
cases caution is advised. Where benefit and harm
are of equal magnitude, removal (or avoidance)
of harm should be given precedence over realiz-
ing good. Thus, the author states (not here but in
Chapter 8), the Precautionary Principle is inher-
ently Islamic. Chapter 8 offers an Islamic com-
mentary on the World Charter for Nature and
Agenda 21. The author views these as consonant
98 Book Reviews
with Islamic environmental principles, and could
easily be adopted by the Islamic world. Chapter 9
is the briefest chapter and consists essentially of
a restatement of the Islamic principles identified
earlier in the book. Curiously, the “inherently
Islamic” Precautionary Principle is not one of the
12 principles identified by the author, and yet if
seriously adopted by the Islamic world, it could
do much to halt, and perhaps reverse the trend
towards eco-catastrophe (see Raffensperger and
Tickner (1999) for a thorough review of the ‘pre-
cautionary principle’).
This leads me to highlight a weakness of the
book. Whilst it admirably and largely success-
fully attempts to avoid abstraction, it treats the
religious–environmental discourse in a political
vacuum. There is no attempt to define the ‘Islamic
world,’ which is seen as being the heir to, and
the natural receptacle of, Islamic environmental
ethics, law, theology economics, principles, etc.
The reader is left thinking the author defines it
simply as constituted by those States in which
the majority of its citizens are Muslims. Most of
these, however, are authoritarian States that have
essentially adopted non-Islamic models of devel-
opment, that are anathema to environmental con-
servation. Furthermore, most of these States are
repressing democracy, human rights, and environ-
mental NGOs that are more likely to promote the
principles the author recommends. Where coun-
tries with Islamic majorities are making attempts
to adopt Islamic law (shariah), there is usually only
a narrow moralistic focus, and no evidence that
they are in any way sympathetic, or even aware
of, the environmental dimensions of Islam.
I would recommend the book for undergrad-
uate and graduate environmental or religious
courses, only as most of the material is a bit too
academic (perhaps even a bit too dry) for most
school students and the general public.
Reference
Raffensperger, C. and Tickner, J. (eds.): 1999, Protecting Public
Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary
Principle, Island Press.
Iljas Baker,
Mahidol University,
25/25, Puthamoltol 4,
Salaya 73170, Thailand
iljas@mozart.inet.co.th
Drought, Food and Culture: Ecological Change and
Food Security in Africa’s Later Prehistory, F.A.
Hassan (ed.), 2002. Kluwer Academic/Plenum
Publishers, xvii + 347 pp., ISBN 0 306 46755 0,
98.50 EUR/85.00 USD/60.50 GBP (hardback).
A volume of high level scholarship describes how
ancient people coped with incidents of drought
(on a year-to-year scale), and how they responded
to climate change (Kyear-to-Kyear scale). The 17
chapters are set in three sections: climate change
(Chapters 3–7), plant cultivation (Chapters 8–11),
and pastoralism (Chapters 12–16). These are the
three major issues to be addressed, though the
split does not hold.
In the first two chapters, the editor sets the
scene for subsequent presentations. Chapter 1
(Introduction) provides a brief resume on: cli-
mate change and human perception and response,
temporal and spatial variability of climatic phe-
nomena, interactions between climate and cul-
ture. Chapter 2 (Palaeoclimate, food and culture
in Africa: an overview) shows that Africa, during
the last 14000 years, “has passed through no less
than thirty major climatic events,” including sev-
eral abrupt and severe dry episodes. Responses
to these episodes included demographic shuffles,
adoption of new technologies (means of resource
utilization and food production), transformation
of cultural, social and political systems.
Section I: ‘Climate change’ (during the
Holocene) comprises six chapters. In Chapter 3
a team of 11 authors summarize results obtained
from analyzes of marine sediment cores from
the Eastern Mediterranean: south Adriatic Sea,
southeast Aegean Sea, and the Cyprus region.
The analyzes distinguish layers with warm (olig-
otrophic) species, alternating with layers with cool
(eutrophic) species of foraminifera. This pattern,
together with dating layers of sediments, enabled
the authors to suggest a sequence of sea surface
temperature fluctuations, and to compare it with
climate fluctuations in North Africa. Chapter 4
deals with climate variations in the African Sahara
and the Sahel. Here change relates to rainfall
(water resources) as dry, and less dry episodes
alternate. Impacts on human settlements, move-
ments, and responses to adapt to change are