1. Richard C. Foltz, Frederick M. Denny, and Azizan Baharuddin, eds., Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780945454397

This comprehensive collection on Islamic environmental thought features 23 essays that reinterpret Islam’s teachings on nature and stewardship. Organized into themes like justice, sustainability, and the Islamic garden as a metaphor for paradise, it stems from a 1998 Harvard forum on Islamic environmental values. Contributors range from jurists and theologians to scientists and activists, and the volume remains the standard point of entry to the field. Its breadth makes it useful both for readers seeking an overview and for researchers looking for a specific disciplinary angle.

 

2. Muhammad Yaseen Gada, Islam and Environmental Ethics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024. https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/islam-and-environmental-ethics/12DC55D258E6E49A8B4F68E5BB0A2DC3

A recent study exploring how Islamic culture addresses environmental concerns, highlighting principles drawn from the Qur’an and Sunnah. It emphasizes environmental protection as a moral and religious duty rather than a matter of policy preference, and offers frameworks for thinking about justice and sustainability. As one of the newest treatments available, it reflects the current state of the scholarly conversation and is well suited to readers who want a concise, up-to-date synthesis rather than an edited collection.

 

3. (Fr) Ali M. Al-Qaradaghî, Franz-Theo Gottwald and Isabel Schatzschneider, Sharīʿa et défis environnementaux contemporains, CILE/Tawhid, 2017. https://albayyinah.fr/education-reforme/2540-shari-a-et-defis-environnementaux-contemporains-10-al-qaradaghi-gottwald-schatzschneider-collection-cile-tawhid-9782848624099.html

(Eng) Ali M. Al-Qaradaghî, Franz-Theo Gottwald and Isabel Schatzschneider, Sharia Objectives as a Framework for Addressing Contemporary Environmental Challenges and the Ethical Governing Rules, Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics (HBK University), 2017.

https://www.qscience.com/content/book/9789927119569

This book explores how Islamic ethical principles, particularly the maqāṣid al-sharīʿa (higher objectives of Islamic law), can address the global ecological crisis. By integrating religious values with scientific approaches, it proposes an Islamic environmental ethic focused on protecting life, dignity, resources, and posterity, offering a spiritual and actionable framework for climate solutions. Available in both French and English, it is one of the few resources on this list that can serve the Anglophone and Francophone contexts equally, and Al-Qaradaghī’s standing as a jurist gives it particular authority.

 

4. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Encounter of Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1968; reissued as Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man, Chicago: ABC International Group / Kazi Publications, 1997. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Nature-Spiritual-Crisis-Mandala/dp/0044406207

Classic text arguing the modern environmental crisis is a “spiritual crisis of humanity”. Calls for revival of traditional sacred science to recognize nature as a divine sign and humans as vicegerents. Written decades before ecology became a mainstream religious concern, it anticipated much of the later literature and remains the foundational statement of the Traditionalist position. Nasr’s diagnosis – that environmental damage follows from a desacralized view of knowledge itself – connects this theme directly to the wider question of how secular conditions shape responses to risk.

 

5. Mawil Y. Izzi Dien, The Environmental Dimensions of Islam, Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 2000. https://www.lutterworth.com/product/environmental-dimensions-of-islam-the/

The work surveys Qur’anic verses and doctrine showing Islam enshrines environmental principles. Emphasizes God’s balance in nature and the role of humans as trustees (khulafā’) with stewardship and responsibility. Arising from the 1992 Earth Summit, it approaches the subject from historical, theological, legal and ethical angles, with particularly strong chapters on Islamic law, economic justice and the public interest. Izzi Dien writes as both a jurist and an academic, which makes the legal material more substantive than in most general treatments.

 

6. (Fr) Nadim Ghodbane, L’Islam face au défi écologique : Essai pour une théologie musulmane de la libération, Lazare et Capucine, 2023. https://www.lazare-capucine.com/produit/lislamfaceaudefiecologique/

L’auteur aborde la crise écologique sous l’angle de la justice sociale et de la spiritualité, en mettant en avant les ressources éthiques de l’islam au service d’une « théologie de la libération ». L’ouvrage propose une justice climatique nourrie par la foi, appelant à une transformation des cœurs autant que des structures sociales, et présente l’islam comme un partenaire essentiel du mouvement écologique mondial. L’emprunt explicite à la théologie latino-américaine de la libération est peu courant dans l’écrit écologique musulman et offre un contrepoint utile à l’approche traditionaliste représentée ailleurs dans cette liste.

 

7. Fazlun M. Khalid, Signs on the Earth: Islam, Modernity and the Climate Crisis, London: Kube Publishing, 2019. https://www.kubepublishing.com/products/signs-on-the-earth-2

The book examines how Islam addresses today’s climate emergency. Highlights that the ecological crisis disproportionately affects Muslims and urges drawing upon heritage, including stewardship (khilāfa), to respond. Khalid founded the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences and writes as a practitioner rather than an academic, which gives the book an activist directness. Its attention to the uneven distribution of climate harm connects the theme to questions of global justice and to the position of Muslim-majority societies in particular.

 

8. (Fr) Richard Foltz, « L’Islam face à la crise environnementale », in Parle à la terre et elle t’instruira : Les religions et l’écologie, ed. Cory Andrew Labrecque, Presses de l’Université Laval, 2022, pp. 145-156. https://www.pulaval.com/livres/parle-a-la-terre-et-elle-t-instruira-les-religions-et-l-ecologie

Un chapitre qui réfléchit à la crise environnementale mondiale dans une perspective décoloniale, en insistant sur la justice sociale et sur la recherche d’une légitimité culturelle locale pour bâtir des solidarités face aux défis écologiques. Foltz, qui a également codirigé le volume de Harvard cité plus haut, s’adresse ici à un lectorat francophone et situe la pensée écologique musulmane au sein d’une étude comparée des religions et de l’écologie. Sa brièveté et son accessibilité en font un bon point de départ pour le grand public francophone.

 

Multimedia (Lectures, Conferences – Video/Podcast)

9. (Fr) Eric Geoffroy, Le « Cosmisme » de l’Islam, Conscience Soufie lecture series, Ramadan cycle on ecology, 7 April 2024.

Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVcnKAeUmdw

Podcast : https://on.soundcloud.com/OW4GaHQZV8EMGxeMLr

Une méditation sur l’approche contemplative du monde dans le soufisme, fondée sur le texte coranique. La conférence met en lumière la relation entre l’être humain et son environnement dans le Coran. Spécialiste du soufisme à l’Université de Strasbourg, Eric Geoffroy s’appuie sur la tradition akbarienne pour présenter le cosmos comme un texte à lire aux côtés de la révélation. Destinée à un large public musulman francophone, elle demeure accessible sans rien céder sur le fond.

 

10. Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, Existential Threats of Progress, the Modern Financial System, the Metaverse, lecture.

Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_8UcjFLeGI

The lecture argues that unchecked progress and materialism threaten humanity. Risks include AI, genetic manipulation, and the climate crisis, which could lead to catastrophe or extinction. It highlights how human cleverness outweighs wisdom, driving harmful, consumption-driven systems. Because it treats the environmental crisis as one of several converging existential threats rather than in isolation, it is a useful bridge between this theme and the others in the library, and one of the few lectures by a senior scholar to address them together.