A Book Review on Environmental Wisdom for Planet Earth: The Islamic Heritage (Revised Second Edition) by Osman Bakar. Malaysia: Centre for Civilisational Dialogue University of Malaya and Islamic Book Trust. 2022

Authors

  • Mohd Shazani Masri

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33736/jbk.5209.2022

Keywords:

Osman Bakar, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islamic Philosophy of Nature, Muslim-Christian dialogue

Abstract

This book is an introduction to Islam’s legacy of ecological and environmental wisdom prescribed in the Qur’an and in the history of Islamic science and technology. The author attempted to expound the title in question two-pronged: by addressing the spiritual dimension of the environmental wisdom and its scientific-economic counterpart. His main argument centres on highlighting a spiritual vision of nature – in this case, Islamic – that should be embodied and accounted within discussions about ecology and environment based on dialogue. The book is an ideological expansion of Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s seminal work, Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man (2007). Specifically, the author emphasizes that the Earth is human beings’ only planetary home and highlights the Quranic take on the proposition. In this revised second addition, it updates the importance of intensifying interfaith dialogues particularly with regards to addressing contemporary environmental issues (i.e climate change) by reflecting on Muslim-Catholic dialogue by referring to the Pope’s Laudato Si in His Holiness’ regards to Earth as Our Common Home in particular. Theoretically, this book is yet another addition to the dialogic approach to inter-civilizational issues to address both practical and spiritual upheavals emanating from such inter-religious discourse about the current state of humanity and its relationship with the environment.

References

Bakar, Osman. “Environmental Wisdom for Planet Earth: The Islamic Heritage.” Malaysia: CCD UM and IBT. 2022

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. “Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man.” Chicago, IL: ABC International Group, Inc. 1997

Francis, His Holiness the Pope. “Encyclical Letter: Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home.” Vatican City: The Vatican Press. 2015. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

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Published

2022-12-31

How to Cite

Masri, M. S. . (2022). A Book Review on Environmental Wisdom for Planet Earth: The Islamic Heritage (Revised Second Edition) by Osman Bakar. Malaysia: Centre for Civilisational Dialogue University of Malaya and Islamic Book Trust. 2022. Journal of Borneo-Kalimantan, 8(2), 7–9. https://doi.org/10.33736/jbk.5209.2022