Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Islam and Environmental Law
- The Cambridge Handbook of Islam and Environmental Law
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Islamic Policy of Environmental Conservation
- 2 Acknowledging Environmental Externalities in Islamic Legal Critiques of Corporate Personhood
- 3 Islamic Ethics, Decarbonization, and Climate Change in the Middle East
- 4 Environmental Stewardship in Islamic Law
- 5 Dignity Law and the Environment in Pakistan
- 6 Oil and Institutional Stasis in the Persian Gulf
- 7 Militarism, Climate Emissions, and Islamic Environmental Ethics
- 8 A Concise Overview of the Classical Islamic Coastal and Marine Environmental Law
- 9 Property Rights for Landless Agricultural Workers and the Flexibility of Hanafi Land Law Jurisprudence
- 10 A History of the Ḥimā Conservation System
- 11 The Right to Water in Islamic Thought and Its Manifestation in the Islamic-Iranian Cities
- 12 Intellectual Property and the Protection of the Environment in Nigeria
- 13 A Critical Appraisal of State-Supported, ‘Public’ Islamic Environmental Law through the Case Studies of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia
- 14 Redefining an Islamic ‘Good Life’
- 15 Islamic Legal Perspectives on Genetically Modified Food (GMF)
- 16 Sheikh Asim Farooq v. Federation of Pakistan
- 17 The Making and Message of Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth
- 18 Towards Environmental Sustainability
- 19 Arabic Treatises on Environmental Pollution up to the End of the Thirteenth Century
- 20 Islamic Environmental Law Revisited as an Academic Discipline
- 21 Animal Ethics in Islam
- 22 Islamic Finance and Environmental Law
- 23 Towards an Islamic Energy Ethic and Praxis
- 24 The Protection of Basic Natural Resources and Man under Islamic Law
- 25 Faith-Based Approaches to Ecological Harmony and Environmental Protection
- 26 Charting the Future of Islamic Environmental Law in an Age of Planetary Crisis
- Index
- References
22 - Islamic Finance and Environmental Law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 April 2026
Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Islam and Environmental Law
- The Cambridge Handbook of Islam and Environmental Law
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Islamic Policy of Environmental Conservation
- 2 Acknowledging Environmental Externalities in Islamic Legal Critiques of Corporate Personhood
- 3 Islamic Ethics, Decarbonization, and Climate Change in the Middle East
- 4 Environmental Stewardship in Islamic Law
- 5 Dignity Law and the Environment in Pakistan
- 6 Oil and Institutional Stasis in the Persian Gulf
- 7 Militarism, Climate Emissions, and Islamic Environmental Ethics
- 8 A Concise Overview of the Classical Islamic Coastal and Marine Environmental Law
- 9 Property Rights for Landless Agricultural Workers and the Flexibility of Hanafi Land Law Jurisprudence
- 10 A History of the Ḥimā Conservation System
- 11 The Right to Water in Islamic Thought and Its Manifestation in the Islamic-Iranian Cities
- 12 Intellectual Property and the Protection of the Environment in Nigeria
- 13 A Critical Appraisal of State-Supported, ‘Public’ Islamic Environmental Law through the Case Studies of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia
- 14 Redefining an Islamic ‘Good Life’
- 15 Islamic Legal Perspectives on Genetically Modified Food (GMF)
- 16 Sheikh Asim Farooq v. Federation of Pakistan
- 17 The Making and Message of Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth
- 18 Towards Environmental Sustainability
- 19 Arabic Treatises on Environmental Pollution up to the End of the Thirteenth Century
- 20 Islamic Environmental Law Revisited as an Academic Discipline
- 21 Animal Ethics in Islam
- 22 Islamic Finance and Environmental Law
- 23 Towards an Islamic Energy Ethic and Praxis
- 24 The Protection of Basic Natural Resources and Man under Islamic Law
- 25 Faith-Based Approaches to Ecological Harmony and Environmental Protection
- 26 Charting the Future of Islamic Environmental Law in an Age of Planetary Crisis
- Index
- References
Summary
The aim of this chapter is to evaluate the potential contributions of Islamic finance as an important faith-based approach for financing environmental policies and programs in Islamic countries. While the need for environmental protection and sustainable development have been recognized in the laws of virtually every country on earth, countries often struggle to mobilize environmental finance, i.e the financial resources and tools needed to implement environmental protection programs. The global rise of green or environmental finance as an approach to meet climate change mitigation and adaption financing has highlighted the nexus between environmental finance and Islamic finance as both share similar underlying ethical principles and social and environmental objectives. In this regard, Islamic finance has recently witnessed the development of green sukuk, a new asset class targeting projects that address climate change. The chapter discusses the potential of Islamic finance as a viable environmental finance alternative. In so doing, it will first discuss the ethical and legal principles underpinning Islamic environmental finance. Second, it will discuss the legal and institutional gaps that currently hinder the wide scale integration of Islamic finance into environmental law in Islamic countries.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Islam and Environmental Law , pp. 277 - 290Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
References
Select Bibliography
Aassouli, D. et al. “Green Sukuk, Energy Poverty, and Climate Change: A Roadmap for Sub-Saharan Africa,” World Bank Group Policy Research Working Paper No. WPS 8680, 2018, https://bit.ly/4hUJ9LC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
‘Arafa, M. A. “Islamic Policy of Environmental Conservation 2014,” European Journal of Law Reform 16(2) (2014), pp. 465–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapra, M. U. The Islamic Vision of Development in the Light of the Maqasid Al-Shari’ah, London: The International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2008.Google Scholar
Izzi Deen, M. Y. “Islamic Environmental Ethics, Law, and Society,” in Gottlieb, R. S. (ed.), This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment, 2nd ed., New York: Routledge, 2004, pp. 142–50.Google Scholar
Moghul, U. F., and Safar-Aly, S. “Green Sukuk: The Introduction of Islam’s Environmental Ethics to Contemporary Islamic Finance,” Georgetown International Environmental Law Review (GIELR), 27(1) (2015), pp. 1–60.Google Scholar
Olawuyi, D. “Energy Poverty in the Middle East and North African (MENA) Region: Divergent Tales and Future Prospects,” in Del Guayo, I., Godden, L., Zillman, D. N., Montoya, M. F., and Gonzalez, J. J. (eds.), Energy Law and Energy Justice, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020, pp. 254–72.Google Scholar
Olawuyi, D. “Sustainable Development and Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Legal Challenges and Emerging Solutions,” Journal of Environmental Science & Policy 103(1) (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.10.009.Google Scholar
Sikandar Shah Haneef, S. “Principles of Environmental Law in Islam,” Arab Law Quarterly 17(3) (2002), pp. 241–54.Google Scholar
Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.2 AAA
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
The HTML of this chapter
complies with version 2.2 of the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG), offering more comprehensive accessibility measures for a broad range
of users and attains the highest
(AAA)
level of WCAG compliance, optimising the user experience by meeting the most extensive
accessibility guidelines.
Content Navigation
Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Index navigation
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
Reading Order & Textual Equivalents
Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
Full alternative textual descriptions
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
Visualised data also available as non-graphical data
You can access graphs or charts in a text or tabular format, so you are not excluded if you cannot process visual displays.
You can access graphs or charts in a text or tabular format, so you are not excluded if you cannot process visual displays.
Visual Accessibility
Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
Use of high contrast between text and background colour
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.