Islamic Ecological Ethics and Sustainable Development in Pakistan: A Qur’ānic Perspective on Climate Challenges

Abstract

Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable nations of climate change that is facing frequent flooding, heat waves, water shortage, deforestation, and environmental degradation. Although there are formal policy tools, such as the Pakistan Climate Change Act (2017) and the National Climate Change Policy (2021), climate governance in Pakistan is highly technocratic, and little focus is directed towards the ethical frameworks that can promote long-term interest in the society and change behaviour. This paper has discussed the moral gap in the environmental management of Pakistan by establishing the possibilities of Quranic ecological ethics as an alternative normative system. The article uses a qualitative thematic analysis of chosen Quranic ideas, The ethical and ecological framework in Islam emphasizes several core principles, the majority of which are: خِلَافَة (Khilāfah – Stewardship), مِيزَان (Mīzān – Balance), أَمَانَة (Amānah – Trust), إِسْرَاف (Isrāf – Prohibition of Waste), فَسَاد فِي الْأَرْض (Fasād fī al-Arḍ – Ecological Corruption), and رَحْمَة (Raḥmah – Mercy), and critically examines the current climate policy tools of Pakistan. The research is not aimed to replace scientific or technical policy methods; instead, it assesses the possibility of improvements in the policy legitimacy, the population adherence and moral responsibility through ethical foundations that are based on Quran. The results indicate that there is a significant conceptual overlap between the ecological ethics of Quraysh as per the Quran and the main intentions of significant development, especially those formulated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The ethics of Quran provide normative consistency, culturally instilled moral authority and leverage in terms of behaviour that can empower climate change adaptation and mitigation in Pakistan. With its application to indigenous religious ethics in climate governance, this article can also be used in interdisciplinary research in religion and sustainability and suggest a policy-consequential ethical framework that enhances climate governance without trespassing into theological matters.