Climate Change Adaptation in Islamic Law: A Study on Rationals and Politics of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals

Poster Abstract: This study explains the mechanisms by which Islam is linked to environmental commitment by examining behavior of Indonesian Muslim intellectuals who play a central theoretical and practical role in terms of religious-legal debate in the Islamic world and of decarbonization practice of Indonesian society. Previous studies on “Islam and the environment” have largely focused on the particularities of Islamic discourses, though it has not fully discussed the process of such discourses been created. Therefore, this study focuses on the strategic nature of each Muslim intellectuals and broadens its perspective to jurisprudential process and political relations, which are important explanatory factors for the environmental practices of Muslim intellectuals. Based on fieldwork, this poster reports on polysemic responses to decarbonizing trend by prominent intellectuals in Java.
First, in the context of the debate over Islamic law in the whole Islamic world, we will analyze sermons and writings based on Islamic law to clarify the concepts and its networks from Java, Arab, and the Anglophone world that constitute these discourses. It highlights Muslim intellectuals’ environmental views, and problems and solutions they have in mind for climate change. Second, regarding the decarbonization of Indonesian society, where the government and businesses are promoting climate measures, we will analyze the dynamics of environmental practices by the Muslim intellectuals. Specifically, we will investigate environmental education and greening activities in religious-related institutions such as pesantren (Islamic boarding school). Through this,it elucidates the role and creativity of efforts based on the tripartite relationship between man, nature, and God.