Overview

How might understandings of environmentalism and the environmental humanities shift by incorporating Islamic perspectives? In this book, Anna M. Gade explores the religious and cultural foundations of Islamic environmentalisms. She blends textual and ethnographic study to offer a comprehensive and interdisciplinary account of the legal, ethical, social, and empirical principles underlying Muslim commitments to the earth. Muslim Environmentalisms shows how diverse Muslim communities and schools of thought have addressed ecological questions for the sake of this world and the world to come. Gade draws on a rich spectrum of materials–scripture, jurisprudence, science, art, and social and political engagement–as well as fieldwork in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The book brings together case studies in disaster management, educational programs, international development, conservation projects, religious ritual and performance, and Islamic law to rethink key theories. Gade shows that the Islamic tradition leads us to see the environment as an ethical idea, moving beyond the established frameworks of both nature and crisis. Muslim Environmentalisms models novel approaches to the study of religion and environment from a humanistic perspective, reinterpreting issues at the intersection of numerous academic disciplines to propose a postcolonial and global understanding of environment in terms of consequential relations.

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Reviews

Anna M. Gade places her arguments within a rich exploration of historical and modern theoretical approaches to the environment and environmentalism. This book is theoretically sophisticated, lively, and interesting.--Marion Katz, author of Women in the Mosque: A History of Legal Thought and Social Practice

Anna M. Gade places her arguments within a rich exploration of historical and modern theoretical approaches to the environment and environmentalism. This book is theoretically sophisticated, lively, and interesting. -- Marion Katz, author of <i> Women in the Mosque: A History of Legal Thought and Social Practice</i> Anna Gade's Muslim Environmentalisms is an instant classic. It is inspired and inspiring, a work that deserves to be read and internalized in scholarly communities, activist movements, and policy circles. Many previous works on the subjects have offered profound philosophical speculations on the theme, but have remained oddly disconnected from the activities of Muslims on the ground. Gade's work brilliantly guides us among the rich discursive terrains of Qur'an and ethics, to the environmentalist movements in Cambodia and Indonesia, and Malaysia. I cannot remember another work that moves with such grace and brilliance, benefitting from the insights of the best of religious studies, anthropology, and more. Muslim Environmentalisms is more than simply a work that sums up or even challenges existing fields. It shines a light on the terrain that must be followed to save our only home. -- Omid Safi, author of <i>Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism</i> Anna Gade's original book pushes environmental humanities to open up to concepts and insights from Islamic thinking. Rather than an idealized and static theology, Islam, for Gade, is what Muslims say and do, in their relation to the Qur'an; this already moves us beyond stereotypes and exclusions. Muslim Environmentalisms is a much needed addition to environmental thinking. -- Anna Tsing, author of <i>Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection</i> Muslim Environmentalisms is a must-read for anyone interested in religion and the environment, and the environmental humanities generally. In contrast to essentializing, monolithic approaches of 'Islam and ecology,' Gade offers a nuanced and grounded portrait of Muslim environmentalisms that advances the project of the environmental humanities beyond romantic, colonial, and Eurocentric frames and inheritances, while staking an original claim for 'the environment' as an inherently ethical category. -- Lisa Sideris, author of <i>Consecrating Science: Wonder, Knowledge, and the Natural World</i> An in-depth and all-encompassing critical survey of how some contemporary Muslims have sought to articulate environmental values in terms of Islamic ethics and norms. -- Richard Foltz Concordia University * AAR Book Review * Recommended. * Choice *

An in-depth and all-encompassing critical survey of how some contemporary Muslims have sought to articulate environmental values in terms of Islamic ethics and norms. -- Richard Foltz Concordia University * AAR Book Review * Muslim Environmentalisms is a must-read for anyone interested in religion and the environment, and the environmental humanities generally. In contrast to essentializing, monolithic approaches of 'Islam and ecology,' Gade offers a nuanced and grounded portrait of Muslim environmentalisms that advances the project of the environmental humanities beyond romantic, colonial, and Eurocentric frames and inheritances, while staking an original claim for 'the environment' as an inherently ethical category. -- Lisa Sideris, author of <i>Consecrating Science: Wonder, Knowledge, and the Natural World</i> Anna Gade's original book pushes environmental humanities to open up to concepts and insights from Islamic thinking. Rather than an idealized and static theology, Islam, for Gade, is what Muslims say and do, in their relation to the Qur'an; this already moves us beyond stereotypes and exclusions. Muslim Environmentalisms is a much needed addition to environmental thinking. -- Anna Tsing, author of <i>Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection</i> Anna Gade's Muslim Environmentalisms is an instant classic. It is inspired and inspiring, a work that deserves to be read and internalized in scholarly communities, activist movements, and policy circles. Many previous works on the subjects have offered profound philosophical speculations on the theme, but have remained oddly disconnected from the activities of Muslims on the ground. Gade's work brilliantly guides us among the rich discursive terrains of Qur'an and ethics, to the environmentalist movements in Cambodia and Indonesia, and Malaysia. I cannot remember another work that moves with such grace and brilliance, benefitting from the insights of the best of religious studies, anthropology, and more. Muslim Environmentalisms is more than simply a work that sums up or even challenges existing fields. It shines a light on the terrain that must be followed to save our only home. -- Omid Safi, author of <i>Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism</i> Anna M. Gade places her arguments within a rich exploration of historical and modern theoretical approaches to the environment and environmentalism. This book is theoretically sophisticated, lively, and interesting. -- Marion Katz, author of <i> Women in the Mosque: A History of Legal Thought and Social Practice</i>

Author Information

Anna M. Gade is a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of Perfection Makes Practice: Learning, Emotion, and the Recited Qur’an in Indonesia (2004) and The Qur’an: An Introduction (2010).

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