Acta Via Serica

Academia Via Serica (계명대학교 실크로드 중앙아시아연구원)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

MUHAMMAD IQBAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

  • Published : 2017.12.15
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Today, we face many problems at the planetary, national, local, and personal level. What is interesting and important is the fact that the environmental crisis that we have been facing since the 1960s is seen by many environmentalists as a crisis of Western civilization, a slow collective suicide, and "the defining challenge of our age." This fact has encouraged many environmentalists, thinkers, and activists to turn to the wisdom of the East for a better and deeper understanding of nature and humanity for a sustainable future. Moreover, environmental, social, and economic threats are aimed at everyone without discrimination, be they Christian, Jew, Muslim, or Buddhist. Therefore, the very nature of the environmental crisis and challenge requires a cooperative, global response. In this context, this study suggests that Eastern societies may re-discover the richness of their own traditions in the light of pressing environmental problems and offer new insights to respond to these problems. This paper will explore the possibility and relevance of Sir Muhammad Iqbal's (1877-1938) ideas for an attitude of reverence and care for nature. It will suggest that his ideas could enlarge and enrich our perspective of ourselves vis $\grave{a}$ vis nature, and raise our "ecological consciousness" and moral responsibility to take action for the environment. It will be argued that Iqbal, as a great and towering son of the Silk Road and a bridge between East and West, is still relevant for us.

Keywords

References

  1. Arasteh, A. Rezah. 1972. Rumi the Persian: Rebirth in Creativity and Love. Tucson, AZ: Omen Press.
  2. Bacon, Francis. 1905. Novum Organum, Part II, Ch. 31 In The Philosophy of Francis Bacon, edited by John M. Robertson, New York: Free Press.
  3. Berry, Thomas. 1978. "The New Story: Comments on the Origin, Identification, and Transmission of Values." In Teilhard Studies, No. 1. Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books.
  4. Gania, Mushtaq Ahmed Gania. "Allama Iqbal's Concept of Knowledge and Humanism," http://www.peacewatchkashmir.com/12articles/4allamaiqbalsconceptofknowledgeandhumanism.html. Accessed October 10, 2017.
  5. Ghazali, A.H. 1977. The Jewels of the Qur'an. Translated by Muhammad Abdul Qaseem. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaysia Press.
  6. Grim, John, and M. Evelyn Tucker. 2009. "Introduction." In Thomas Berry, The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
  7. Iqbal, Muhammed. 1977. Speeches, Writings, and Statements of Iqbal. Ed. by Latif Ahmad Sherwani (3rd enlarged ed.), Lahore.
  8. Iqbal, Dr. Javid. 2002. "Religious Philosophy of Muhammad Iqbal." Iqbal Review. http://www.iqbalcyberlibrary.net/pdf/IRE-APR-2002.pdf. Accessed October 5, 2017.
  9. Iqbal, Muhammed. 1999. "Iqbal's Concept of God: The Birth of Theism in the Philosophy of Iqbal." Al-Hikmat 19.
  10. Iqbal, Muhammed. 1934. The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  11. Iqbal, Muhammed. 1977. Islam as an Ethical and A Political Ideal: Edited with Critical Introduction, Copious Notes and Appendix. 2nd rev. Translated by ed. S. Y. Hashimy. Lahore: Islamic Book Service.
  12. Iqbal, Muhammed. The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. www.alhassanain.org/english. Accessed October 1, 2017
  13. Leiss, William. 1970. "Utopia and Technology: Reflections on the Conquest of Nature." International Social Sciences Journal 22: 576-588.
  14. McDonough, Sheila. 2002. "Iqbal: His Metaphysical Ideas." Iqbal Review April: 17-27.
  15. McLaughlin, Andrew. 1985. "Images and Ethics of Nature," Environmental Ethics 7: 293-319. https://doi.org/10.5840/enviroethics19857430
  16. Merchant, Carolyn. 1980. The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology and the Scientific Revolution. San Francisco: Harper and Row.
  17. Mir, Mustansir. 2006. Iqbal, Poet, and Thinker. Youngstown: State University Youngstown.
  18. Nasser, H. 1977. "Dr. Iqbal: The Poet of Humanity." In Dr. Iqbal: The Humanist, edited by S.G. Abbas. Lahore: Iqbal Academy.
  19. Ozdemir, Ibrahim. 2003. "Towards an Understanding of Environmental Ethics from a Qur'anic Perspective." In Islam and Ecology, edited by Richard Foltz, 1-37. Cambridge: MA. Harvard University Press.
  20. Ozdemir, Ibrahim. 2004. "Muhammad," in Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, edited by Bron Taylor and Jeffrey Kaplan. New York: Continuum.
  21. Ozdemir, Ibrahim. 2008. The Ethical Dimension of Human Attitude Towards Nature, 2nd edition. Istanbul: Insan Publications.
  22. Zeb, Aurang Zeb-Qasim, Khamsa. 2015. "The Concept of Khudi (The Self) in Iqbal's The Secrets of the Self." Advances in Language and Literary Studies 6, no. 3 (June): 202-209.
  23. Rahman, Fazlu. 1963. "Iqbal's Idea of the Muslim." Islamic Studies 2, no. 4 (December): 439-445.
  24. Sessions, George, and W. Devall 1985. Deep Ecology. Salt Lake City: Gibbs M. Smith.
  25. Whitehead, Alfred. N. 1925. Science and the Modern World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.