Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ARA3046: Islam, Muslims and the Environment

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

The overarching aim of this module is to provide you with a well-rounded introduction to key relationships between Islam (as a religious tradition), Muslims (as individual and institutional actors, past and present), and the environment (both in its natural state, and under the impact of the current ecological crisis). The module also aims to help you begin to appreciate how multidisciplinarity is necessary to be able to participate debates around environmental sustainability and global Muslims.

The module is recommended for multi- and inter-disciplinary pathways; and to anyone who wishes to learn the basics about ‘Islam, Muslims and the environment’, from an academic or practitioner perspective.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.

On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate familiarity with the various ways in which the environmental crisis is affecting global Muslims (at the environmental, socioeconomic and political levels), and how these are interrelated
2. Demonstrate conceptual awareness of key environmental notions/principles (ethical, juridical, practical) from the Islamic tradition
3. Demonstrate knowledge of ongoing Muslim ‘greening processes’ (environmentally-focused discourses, trends, initiatives, actors, etc.); and an understanding of how these relate to each other, and to broader contexts
Discipline-Specific Skills4. Find, employ and analyse reliable (primary and secondary) data and sources from the multiple disciplines engaged through the module, which are relevant to specific issue areas
5. Develop critical arguments by applying concepts/theories/analytical approaches from different disciplines
6. Demonstrate familiarity with a multidisciplinary approach to key themes and issues related to Islam, Muslims and the environment
Personal and Key Skills7. Conduct independent work/research
8. Find, synthesise and analyse information from a wide range of sources and disciplinary perspectives
9. Demonstrate analytical writing skills, including reasoned, coherent and supported argumentation

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Abdul-Matin, Ibrahim. Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2010

Ahmad, Akhtaruddin. Islam and the Environmental Crisis. London: Ta-Ha Publishers, 1998.

Albrecht, Jamie. Muslim American Environmentalism: An Emerging Environmental Movement in America and its Implications. Lambert Academic Publishing, 2011

Cahan, Jean. Water Security in the Middle East: Essays in Scientific and Social Cooperation. Anthem Press India, 2017

Davis, Diana, and Edmund Burke, eds. Environmental Imaginaries of the Middle East and North Africa. Ohio University Press, 2011

Faruqui, Naser, Asit Biswas, and Murad Bino, eds. Water Management in Islam. Tokyo, Japan: United Nations University Press, 2001

Foltz, Richard C., Azizan Baharuddin, and Frederick M. Denny, eds. Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust. Cambridge, Mass.: Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, 2003 

Foltz, Richard. ed. Environmentalism in the Muslim World. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2005

Gade, Anna M. Muslim Environmentalisms: Religious and Social Foundations. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019

Haleem, Harfiya Abdel, ed. Islam and the Environment. London: Ta-Ha Publishers, 1998. 

Hancock, Rosemary. Islamic environmentalism: activism in the United States and Great Britain. Abingdon: Routledge, 2018

Husaini, S. Waqar Ahmad. Islamic Environmental Systems Engineering. London: Macmillan, 1980 

Izzi Dien, Mawil. The Environmental Dimensions of Islam. Cambridge: Lutterworth, 2000 

Allan, John Anthony and Chibli Mallat. Water in the Middle East: legal, political and commercial implications. London: Tauris Academic Studies, 1996

Khalid, Fazlun, and Joanne O’Brien, eds. Islam and Ecology. New York: Cassell, 1992

Khalid, Fazlun. Signs on the Earth: Islam, Modernity and the Climate Crisis. Markfield: Kube Publishing, 2019

Masri, Al-Hafiz. Animal Welfare in Islam. Markfield: Islamic Foundation, 2007

Mikhail, Alan, ed. Water on sand: environmental histories of the Middle East and North Africa. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013

Verhoeven, Harry, ed. Environmental politics in the Middle East: local struggles, global connections. London: C. Hurst. 2018