Islamic Perspectives on Sustainable Development

Abstract

Economic progress in the twentieth century has been spectacular by
common Statistical standards. Along with this enviable record have come
two important realizations: the immense material wealth has not made
people happier than they were before,' and it has resulted in a gradual depledon
and, in some cases, an outright destruction of scarce ecological
and other resources. This has forced many social scientists to rethjnk the
necessity-even the desirability-of indiscriminate economic progress. No
other single topic of discussion seems to manifest these concerns more
than that of sustainable development.
This paper looks at sustainable development from an Islamic perspective.
Its theoretical arguments proceed as follows: Islam means peace
and harmony and, therefore, the Islamic way of life entails living in peace
and harmony. An active promotion of the harmonization of indi-vidual,
social, and ecological intensts would ensure sustainable development.
The discussion is then framed in the context of the ordained role of
human beings as God's trustees. Under this arrangement, God is the real
owner of all resources, and humanity is allowed to use them to its
advantage as long as this trust is not violated. The paper concludes that
in a truly Islamic society, sustainable development is a logical outcome
of a normal life and that there is thus no need for a separate strategy of
sustainable development. The rest of the paper deals with the concept of
sustainable development and highlights its multifaceted nature, explains
the endogeneity of sustainable development in Islam, examines the
Islamic characterization of the role of human beings and shows how such
a role conforms to the requirements of sustainable development, and ends
with some concluding remarks ...