Research and Other Publications
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Making Environmental Law WorkProtecting the Environment through Islamic Law In West and North Africa, Islamic law plays a dominant role in the lives of most people. If environmental laws, practices, and institutions could be characterized in terms that are familiar – for example, by drawing upon textual provisions in the Qur’an and Sunnah – people would be more likely to protect the environment. Yet, relatively little research has been conducted on the subject. ELI helped to arrange a preparatory conference in Kuwait City in January 2004 that explored how Islamic law relates to and protects the environment. We hope that this preparatory conference will lead to a major international conference that will explore this topic further and lead to additional research and thought on how Islam can be a force in protecting the environment. This project builds upon a review of Islamic literature for relevant norms that could be invoked in protecting biodiversity that the Institute conducted with ELI Visiting Scholar Ali Ahmad (an environmental law professor at Bayero University Kano (Nigeria)). This research became an Environmental Law Reporter article entitled “Maintaining Mizan: Protecting Biodiversity in Muslim Communities in Africa.” Relevant norms include injunctions against actions that unnecessarily harm the environment or cause damage to particular resources, as well as provisions that seek harmony with nature. Building on these and other norms and institutions, the article considers how national laws could be developed and modified to better reflect Islamic principles so that more people follow them and that the laws more effectively protect biodiversity. Back to Making Environmental Law Work
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