The case for an Islamic sustainable development model

When the post-2015 agenda was adopted in the form of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it ushered in a new era of international development cooperation. It was a welcome achievement, and one that was preceded by perhaps the most inclusive process in the history of the United Nations; each member state contributed, and there were thousands of consultations with non- governmental organisations, international organisations, civil society, the scientific community, and other relevant stakeholders on the construction of the agenda. For the West Asia-North Africa (WANA) region, the SDGs are particularly great news as they call for immediate action at both the international and national level. This change in approach is particularly important as international actors have long dominated sustainable development, leaving little space for state-based empirical approaches. Currently, a major limitation of the sustainable development concept is that it claims universality. In reality, it is nearly impossible to implement any concept universally. Sustainable development is no exception. The question then becomes how to translate the international SDGs into a tangible regional policy, and even more fundamentally, what does sustainable development mean to the people of WANA?

Sustainable development is an interdisciplinary concept that considers the environmental, social and economic dimensions of a system, facilitating a holistic approach to contemporary challenges. The concept was first presented in 1987, by the UN sanctioned Brundtland Report. The report outlined economic growth as a vehicle for facilitating a sustainable development. However, the model that has been widely adopted since is a ‘people-planet-profit’ model, which places excessive emphasis on the economic growth. A major result of this is that states that are not focused on capitalism have become alienated from the concept.  Broadly, development is too often misunderstood as pure economic growth. This is one of the reasons why it cannot simply be benchmarked in, for instance, gross domestic product (GDP) output. In short, the sustainable development agenda has been allowed to evolve in a manner than isolates certain states, therefore perpetuating the state of affairs it was born to overcome.

Indeed, economics is not inherently bad. However, as Dr Laylla Rkiouak writes in Bridging the Gap: a New Islamic Sustainable Development Model while free markets are efficient for increasing productivity and standards of living, they are ineffective at preventing environmental spillovers, over consumption and ecological damage. This phenomenon is playing out clearly and dramatically in the WANA region. Markets need to be regulated by a governing authority, otherwise humanity will continue to press against the ecological limitations of its own habitat. The urgency of this need is exasperated by the fact that the WANA region is currently facing unprecedented environmental challenges such as water scarcity, land degradation, air pollution and climate change.

There are alternatives to measuring sustainable development in GDP, which contribute more nuanced thinking on the subject. Examples of this include Bhutan’s measuring of Gross National Happiness, and the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index. In combination with the post-2015 SDGs, this innovative thinking is a welcome transition from economy centred sustainability thinking. However, these models still lack the value resonance required to transition to practices that are ecologically sustainable in the WANA region. The pillars of sustainable development need to be combined with an ethical dimension at the level of popular values; one that is familiar to people and widely accepted. The lack of such dimension signifies the gap between theory and social practise.

A development model that that specifically reflects the values, goals, priorities and challenges shared by the people of the region might bridge this gap. Such a model must isolate the specific drivers that can galvanise population groups, inspire collective action and demand widespread respect. Many of these drivers and forces likely to mobilise the citizens of the region, ultimately leveraging the required political commitment, can be found in the Islamic tradition. The objectives of Islamic law, maqasid al-Shari´a, in particular, can constitute a platform for a new regional definition and understanding of sustainable development, which could facilitate the implementation of the SDGs.

Islam is a comprehensive way of life, and deals with individual rights, practices and rules. It is also concerned with issues associated with state and governance. In the West Asia-North African context, ethics, shared values, morality, and religion are interconnected and largely indistinguishable. Over 90 per cent of the region’s population are Muslims, and according to a PEW survey from 2012, about 80 per cent of Muslims in the region consider religion to be very important in their lives. Therefore, an Islamic Sustainable Development Model (ISDM) should have a significant impact on how people in WANA think about sustainable development, and the above evidence suggests that it would reach people in ways Western discourses do not.

Islam teaches sustainability and moderation in all aspects of life. This includes natural resource management. The Qu’ran stipulates a balanced ecosystem in which humans are stewards: “Eat and drink from the provision of Allah, and do not commit abuse on the Earth, spreading corruption” (QS:2:60) and that “corruption has appeared in the land and sea, because of what the hands of men have earned, that God may give them a taste of some of their deeds, in order that they may find their way back” (QS:30:41).

So what would an Islamic sustainable development model look like? Most essentially, what are the principals within Islamic law that could provide a platform for such a model? The divine wisdom, purposes and intents behind the rulings upon which Islamic law is based, is defined by its objectives, i.e. justice, human dignity, free will, generosity, facilitation and social cooperation. The principle objective is generally considered to be social welfare, maslaha. In practice this means that when jurists interpret the fundamental sources they cannot interpret them in a way that is inconsistent with broader social welfare or what is in the best interests of society. Social welfare is divided into three sub-categories: necessities, needs and luxuries. The necessities are then further divided into the subcategories of preserving faith, life, wealth, intellect and lineage.

As Dr Rkiouak states, a model based on Islamic traditions would be centred around the notion of human dignity and on the five pillars that uphold it: justice, intellectual knowledge and education, social welfare, human stewardship of natural resources, and wealth and economic activities. These are principles that the people of WANA relate to, and they correspond to their normative value-system.

An ISDM makes sense for the people of WANA in ways the mainstream sustainability model does not. Subsequently, the principles of an ISDM would emulate the SDGs, making it a highly effective translation of the SDGs into a model that the region’s people would relate to. Moreover, by incorporating an ethical dialogue that focuses on human dignity rather than pure economic gain into sustainable development, the economic dimension would be forced to realign its priorities.  An Islamic conception of sustainable development would define human and natural dignity as objects to sustain, with human welfare and environmental stewardship being the guiding principles. It would cater to the human and non-human needs of present and future generations. This is what the SDGs call for. This is what the WANA region needs. This is bridging the gap between theory and practice.