Signs on the Earth: Islam, Modernity and the Climate Crisis is a major study of environmentalism and Islam in practice and theory, with a historical overview that sets out future challenges, including reformulating the fiqh or Islamic legal tradition to take the ecological dimension seriously. In addressing this book to the one billion Muslims in the world it has the potential to reinvigorate the desire for environmental change in a community that is ignored at the peril of the planet. In arguing that modernity, consumerism and industrialisation need to be rethought, alongside an appeal to reconnect man and woman with creation in the divine order, this book has the potential to transform a generation.
In the same way that Naomi Klein‘s This Changes Everything presented the argument for environmental action in a Capitalist framework, Fazlun Khalid has written a book that demands action from those whose primary orientation is towards the Islamic faith. The author looks unflinchingly at how modernity imposes itself on the world, throwing traditional societies and ways of life into disarray. This unfolding disruption has corrupted the balance of the earth’s natural ecosystems while holding out illusory promises of ‘progress’.
Instead, he urges that such progress through industrialization, economic growth, and unsustainable addiction to consumerism desperately needs to be rethought. His radical reconsideration of prevailing models of ‘development’ draws inspiration from the realm of the sacred. He makes a special appeal to Muslims to reflect on their own particular responsibility in addressing the perils faced by the planet. Recognizing, however, that environmental concerns are a collective responsibility, the author calls on people of all faiths and none, to work together to leave future generations a planet on which they will not only survive but thrive.
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