Abstract—Species diversity has been the hallmark of
biosphere and invaluable resource for human being as well as
for the natural environment. In order to appreciate and
conserve these diverse species which are constituents of nature,
different values from different frames of references have been
proffered. This study examines biological diversity from the
Qur’anic perspective in an attempt to explicate the kinds of
value conferred by the Qur’an on non-human species,
particularly among the animals and plants. Collating ayat
(verses) of the Qur’an related to nonhuman species and
analyzing key conceptual terms the Qur’an employs in
reference to their diversity, the study found that nonhuman
species are presented in the Qur’an as signs of God and as
communities of worshipers worthy of existence and
conservation.
Index Terms—Environmental ethics, biodiversity
conservation, nonhuman animals, Qur’anic ecology.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Qur‟anic account and recognition of diversity in
nature could be traced back to the moment when Prophet
Adam was taught al-asma‟ kullaha, the names of things or
the capacity to name things (Qur‟an, 2:31-32). This suggests
that there are, at least, several things out there which he could
identify but which the angels could not. Biological items
from which he was created, namely, water and dust, could be
among the items of identification. Next, he was placed in the
Jannah (garden) together with Eve where they were at liberty
(raghadan) to eat and drink from all types of fruits and to
take shelter and cloth therein, with the exception of a
particular tree forbidden for them (Qur‟an, 2:35; 7:19;
20:118-119). In this earliest encounter between human and
nature, as recorded in the Qur‟an, a variety of biological
things are purposefully placed in Jannah that will make it
habitable for Adam and Eve, only that some of them are halal
(lawful and permissible) while others are haram (unlawful
and impermissible).
Biological diversity (or Biodiversity), according to the
Convention on Biological Diversity, refers to “the variability
among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia,
terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the
ecological complexities of which they are part; this includes
diversity within species, between species and of
ecosystems”[1]. Central to biodiversity is the ecological
complexity of interactions between biota and abiotic
environment. All crops, livestock and marine animals and
their interconnectivities of pollinators, symbionts, pests,
Manuscript received August 31, 2013; revised November 1, 2013.
A. K. H. Solihu is with Islamic Studies in the Department of General
Studies, Faculty of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences,
International Islamic University Malaysia, P. O. Box 10, 50728, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia (e-mail: [email protected]).
parasites, and predator-prey form part of biodiversity [2].
There are frequent references to several species in the
Qur‟an. Out of 114 surahs (chapters) of the Qur‟an, six are
titled after animals: Al-Baqarah (the Cow), al-An„am (the
Cattles), al-Nahl (the Bee), al-Naml (the Ants), al-„Ankabut
(the Spider), and al-Fil (the Elephant). But, as reported by
Tlili [3], approximately thirty animal species are mentioned
in various Qur‟anic surahs. Only one surah bears a plant
name, namely, al-Tin (the Fig), 95, but as Khafagi, Zakaria,
Dewedar and El-Zahdany indicate, there are about 22 plants
belonging to 17 families that are mentioned in the Qur‟an [4].
This study explores the Qur‟anic perspective of biological
diversity in an attempt to elucidate the values assigned to
nonhuman species in nature. The study first analyses key
conceptual terms the Qur‟an employs in reference to
diversity in the biosphere and then identifies the status
assigned to different components of biological diversity and
ecological functions. The last part addresses the end value
that could be drawn from the interdependence and
coexistence of biotic and abiotic constituents of nature.
II. COMPETING PARADIGMS
Nature and several constituents of biodiversity have been
valued differently based on different value systems. In the
age of materialistic, economic driven world, financial
implication of biodiversity is one of the predominant value
methods. Nunes and van den Bergh provide four levels of
biodiversity, each having its own value: genes, species,
ecosystems and functions. Thereafter, they investigate the
economic value and valuation method of each of these levels.
They found that economic valuation could not measure the
real but nonuse/passive values of biodiversity and will
always fail to provide the entire range of biodiversity benefits
[5].
From a more general framework, a Committee on
Noneconomic and Economic Value of Biodiversity review
different approaches to valuing biodiversity, such as
economic, scientific, utilitarian, ethical, aesthetic. They
discuss a variety of values that people derive from
biodiversity and how such values have varyingly contributed
to the advancement in science and technology as well as to
the well-being of individuals and society. Yet they admit that
no simple models or approaches can adequately address both
market and nonmarket values due to our insufficient
knowledge of interconnectivity of the components of
biodiversity and the absence of detailed experimental studies
of the ecosystem [6].
Ehrenfeld questions the very process of valuing
biodiversity. According to him, value is an intrinsic part of
biodiversity. Its value does not depend on anthropocentric
benefits, be it economic, utilitarian, aesthetic, or even
International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 5, No. 3, June 2014
244
Valuing Biodiversity: A Qur‟anic Account
A. K. H. Solihu
DOI: 10.7763/IJESD.2014.V5.486
International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 5, No. 3, June 2014
245
ecosystem services that human derive from it. Biodiversity is
already valuable because it is there long before humans
realized it. Since we do not know enough about the genes,
species and ecosystem of biodiversity, our valuations will
always remain wanting [7].
On the other side of biodiversity valuation stands a group
of researchers who hold that biodiversity could endanger
human health. It is argued that some species might be vectors
of diseases to human population, contributing to the outbreak
or spread of diseases. Maier challenges basing the value of
the natural world on biodiversity, deconstructing arguments
advanced by philosophers and scientists in favor of
biodiversity and its conservation. He claims to appreciate
natural value but outside the prism of biodiversity. Nature is
valuable; biodiversity is not necessarily so. Thus, he framed
nature‟s value on what he called “appropriate fit” which
associates the core of natural value with a valuing
relationship that people develop towards the natural world
[8]. It is a particular human-nature relationship which human
communities have devolved over their interaction with nature.
How one could value the whole system while decrying its
component parts is a question which Maier does not
convincingly address in the book. This line of reasoning
could be seen as part of mental and cultural alliance against
nature‟s design and its intrinsic value which Bertrand Russell
has earlier advanced in Why I am not a Christian. Russell
acknowledges that humans are part of nature as far as their
origin is concerned. But in the world of value, humans are the
ultimate and irrefutable arbiters of values. As humans, he
says, “we are the kings, and we debase our kingship if we
bow down to Nature. It is for us to determine the good life,
not for nature – not even for Nature personified as God” [9].
Very few biologists would subscribe to this purely
humanistic line of reasoning and frame of valuation. In the
Islamic worldview, there is strong support for the idea that
biodiversity is intrinsically valuable and that it plays a pivotal
role in maintaining ecosystem which is crucial to human life.
This study analyses the value that the Qur‟an assigns to
biological diversity.
III. KEY CONCEPTS
Nature is presented in the Qur‟an as “khalq Allah” (the
creation of Allah) (Qur‟an, 31:11) and “sun„ Allah” (the
artistry of Allah) (Qur‟an, 27:88). It is a huge garden in
which the artifact of the caring but invisible gardener is ever
present. The word “nature” is translated into Arabic as
tabi„ah. Tabi„ah is not used in the Qur‟an but
