Role of the Prophet's Sunnah in Forming Environmental Awareness

Abstract

This research addresses the issue of the environment and explains the methodology of the prophetic sunnah in promoting environmental awareness through the principles it established and called for, and the practical applications it mentioned. The world is witnessing rapid and noticeable climate changes, and the entire world is suffering from their effects which has led many international, regional, and local organizations to seek to overcome this problem and reduce its damage, especially in developing countries, that are more vulnerable to the harmful effects of climate change. The importance of this research lies in the need to clarify the term "environmental change" and the danger of its resulting damages to human and other societies, and to explain the comprehensive methodology of the prophetic sunnah in achieving environmental awareness. The research relied on the inductive approach in collecting the subject's vocabulary by referring to the Holy Qura'n and Sunnah, and the most famous books of the imams and scholars who dealt with environmental issues. It also relied on the descriptive and analytical approach in analyzing texts and demonstrating the universal relationships between them, extracting rules and regulations that scientists have derived from the Qur'an and the Sunnah to regulate this issue, and highlighting its features. Then, the research mentioned some applications of the Prophet's Sunnah, which are considered practical applications of it. The research concluded with results, including that the prophetic Sunnah provides a solution to most of life's problems and offers multiple benefits to humanity, and that environmental preservation has received great attention from the prophetic Sunnah and represents one of the legitimate purposes. The research recommends the necessity of Islamic institutions to play their role in consolidating Islamic values related to environmental preservation in speech and action, and the necessity of studying prophetic directives and guidance contained in the sayings and actions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, to benefit from them in the areas of environmental protection and maintenance.