Discussion Questions and Reading Questions

A.  Discussion Questions for Haq and Afrasiabi

1.  What similarities and differences do you see between the tasks undertaken and issues discussed in Haq and Afrasiabi and the Jewish and Christian pieces we have read?  

2.  How are the complex relationships between the Islamic world and the West a complicating factor in the analyses of both Haq and Afrasiabi?

3.  Haq argues that Qur'anic and other Muslim traditions are non-anthropocentric?  How does he support this view?  Would Afrasiabi agree?

4.  How are God, nature, and humans understood in Islamic tradition according to Haq?  How are nature and revelation related?

5.  Haq notes the importance of morality for Islamic views of nature?  How does this compare and contrast with Kay's and/or Schwarzschild's discussion of the importance of morality in relation to nature in Judaism?

6.  Haq seems far more optimistic about retrieval of eco-traditions in Islam than Afrasiabi?   What are there differences in terms of the possibilities of using the jurisprudential traditions?

7.  Given all the pieces we have read so far this semester including Haq and Afrasiabi, what are some general definitions of what is "green" that seem shared by a number of these thinkers?

8.  If you had to construct your own continuum with brown on one end and deep green on the other and light green in the middle, what would characterize each?  

B.  Reading Questions

S. Nomanul Haq, " Islam and Ecology: Toward Retrieval and Reconstruction" Daedalus 2001 accessed online at http://www.amacad.org/publications/fall2001/.haq.aspx on 3/25/06

Reading Guide Questions

1. Why does Haq begin by saying "A consideration of the question of Islam and ecology ought to begin with one fundamental observation of a historical kind: in the construction of what we call the modern world, Islam has had only an indirect role to play." (Paragraph 1)? What does he mean by this statement?

2. What was Sir Hamilton Gibb’s thesis and why does Haq see it as important? (Par. 6-8)

3. Note: Haq bases his task on normative, traditional textual resources in Qur’an, prophetic tradition (hadith), legal texts. This is, for traditional Islam, an all-encompassing "canopy under which fall all aspects of life–since all aspects are religious." (Par.9)

4. Haq says that in seeking to understand the Qur’an’s views of the relations between humans and cosmos, we have to look at three levels: metaphysical, naturalistic, and human. (par. 11)

What does this entail for views of nature, humans, and the divine and their inter-relations? Par. 11-15

5. According to Haq, how does the Qur’an explain the creation and role of humans? (Par14). How does this compare/contrast to the two creation stories in Genesis?

6. What is the nature of the Hadith literature and why is this problematic for using the Hadith to reconstruct an Islamic position on the environment? (Par. 16-18) What can be found in the Hadith that is useful? (Par. 18-20)

7. What are himl and haram? What is fiqh? (Par. 18-19)

8. What is mawlt - wasteland? (Par.20) Note: according to Haq Islamic law is designed to "implement Islamic ethics." (Par. 20)

9. What does human theomorphism entail according to Haq’s interpretation in par. 21-25? What roles do humans and nature play?

10. What are the relations of natural and moral law in par. 26-27? What is "cosmic justice"? (par. 26-28)?

11. Why according to Haq is the Qu’ran not anthropocentric? (29-30) What points does the medieval fable of the animals bring forward (par 31)?

12. What are the "three defining characteristics of nature’? (par. 32, immediately following the heading, "Qur’anic Naturalism and the Nature-Prophecy Parallel) How are the autonomy of nature and its real processes portrayed in the Qur’an (par 33-35)?

13. What is the doctrine of self-injury and why does Haq say this "embodies the seeds of a comprehensive ecological philosophy"? (par. 36) Does this sound at all like Naess’ concept of self-realization?

14. What is the role of reason in understanding nature? (Par. 37)

15. What are the connections between nature and God? What is the concept of AMR? (Par. 38-40) How does this relate to the second characteristic of nature and to morality?

16.How is nature "an embodiment of God’s mercy"? (par 41-43)?

17. How are nature and revelation similar? How are they related? (Par. 44-46)?

18. What models of environmental practice doe Haq find in the hadith and fiqh ( jurisprudence) par. 47 to end)? Specifically, on the following:

himl (par 52-54)

haram (par 55)

plants and trees (par 56)

water and water rights (par. 57-60)

animals (par. 61-69)

19. Why does Haq say that the phrase "In everything that lives there is a reward" "may be considered a broad central principle of Islam’s environmental ethics"? (par. 69-70)

K. L. Afrasiabi, "Toward an Islamic Ecotheology"

Reading Questions

K. L. Afrasiabi, "Toward an Islamic Ecotheology"

Reading Questions

1. In the introduction what criticisms does Afrasiabi say critics have leveled against Islam? (p. 33) How do these line up with criticisms of the other two Abrahamic religions?

2. What two forms does Afrasiabi identify the Islamic response having taken? (Pp. 34-35) To what sources do those who believe Islam has "an ecological dimension" appeal?

3. How does Afrasiabi define "Islamic humanism"? What is insan-i-kamil? What is the "metaphysical notion of man as god-like"? Pp. 35-36

4. What is the "sweeping claim" that Afrasiabi makes on p. 36? Why does he say, "it is not enough to show that pro-ecology insights can be found in Islam? (p. 36) How does Afrasiabi’s position resemble or differ from statements made by Jewish thinkers like Ehrenfeld and Bentley and Kay about current ecological concerns not being directly addressed in earlier traditions? (pp. 36-37)

5. What Islamic 20^th century modernist discourses/reconstructive projects does Afrasiabi, criticize and wish to be in dialog with?

6. Why does Afrasiabi think the project of "Islamization of ecological knowledge" is problematic?

7. How does Afrasiabi interpret the troubled relations of Islam and the West?

8. What are Afrasiabi’s criticisms of Shi’ite jurisprudence in addressing ecological concerns? (Pp.40-41)

9. What alternative approaches does Afrasiabi suggest for "integrating ecology and Islamic theology? (41ff) What eight challenges does he see? Are these eight points congruent with what is often seen as "green" in a typical spectrum of environmental philosophy including the desideratum expressed by Lynn White, A. Leopold, Arnie Naess, Callicott, or the Jewish and Christian eco-theologians we have studied so far?

10. What diagnoses of the cause and cure of the environmental crisis does Afrasiabi share with Lynn White? How does this harmonize with the views of many Muslim scholars?

11. What reconstruction and deconstruction does Afrasiabi believe is necessary and why? (P. 44)