Recognizing the weight of their directive authority, many Muslim leaders and institutions have joined global initiatives to mobilize their communities in the fight against climate change. Supported by the United Nations Environment Programme and developed in consultation with “more than 300 Islamic institutions and international partners,” Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth is an open-access document that “provides a set of authoritative standards for Muslims to follow in their daily lives.” Like Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, Al-Mizan draws on scripture and prophetic teachings to inspire action among Muslims and other faith communities. The 80-page report centers on Quranic references, emphasizing themes such as Khilāfah fī ’l-Ard (Responsibility on the Earth), cosmic equilibrium, and the ethics of Tawḥīd (God’s unity), to encourage billions of Muslims to care for “Our Common Home” and embrace environmental stewardship (1).
This paper expands this initiative by exploring a medieval esoteric treatise, the Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). Composed in the 10th century by a secretive learned society, the text comprises 52 epistles that offer not only an encyclopedic account of the knowledge of their time but also a pluralist vision of a more just world. The most famous section of the treatise, Epistle 22: The Case of the Animals versus Man Before the King of the Jinn, is particularly significant for the ways in which it connects ecological justice to social justice. Written as a fable, the story revolves around a trial in which animals—subjected to cruelty and injustice—bring their grievances before the king of the Jinn. Their pleadings, alongside the human delegates’ defense of their moral superiority, can be analyzed along three axes: critiques of anthropocentrism, logocentrism, and ethnocentrism.
The paper highlights these critiques through a close reading of the exchanges between animals and humans. For example, in response to the humans’ claims to ownership, the animals’ spokesman underscores the precarity of power: “He argues that they buy and sell us. The same is done by Persians to Greeks and Greeks to Persians when they conquer one another. So which is the slave and which the master? (115).” Moreover, the pig emphasizes the contingency of human value systems shaped by ethnocultural differences: “Muslims call us accursed and grotesque; Romans believe [our meat] makes them blessed before God; the Jews detest, revile, and curse us; […] No wonder you are confused. We don’t know whom to thank and against whom to complain of injustice (120).” Still, when humans assert their superiority by alleging their possession of “philosophical arguments and rational proofs (108),” the animals counter, arguing that “powerful intellects” should not boast over those who lack equal gifts (114). This critique of reason and authoritative knowledge expands into a broader critique of logocentrism when the honeybee highlights the geometric perfection of its craft as superior to humans’ intellectualizing tendencies (213).
The critiques of anthropocentrism in the fable resonate with similar lines of critique in Jewish and Christian theologies. Just as Maimonides, in The Guide to the Perplexed (III), questions the subjugation of celestial bodies for the service of humanity in Genesis 1:17-18, The Case of the Animals versus Man challenges the notion of humanity’s dominion over existence (4).
This paper adopts an unorthodox approach to engaging Quranic naturalistic themes and environmental concepts. Rather than focusing on notions such as Khalīfah (humanity’s stewardship or lieutenancy over creation and the natural world) or Mīzān (a balanced relationship with all created things), it emphasizes an eschatological reading of Amānah (trust). Particularly significant in the Ismaili tradition, Amānah mandates that each generation leave the Earth in the same or better condition for the next (5). While recognizing the significance of Taskhīr (subjugation), Isrāf (wastefulness), and Fasād (corruption), this paper centers Amānah as a crucial concept in shaping an ethics of preservation. Furthermore, this reading is aligned with critiques of endless growth. As David Harvey’s seminal work, The Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism, suggests the 3% infinite growth is simply incompatible with a finite world (6).
Epistle 22 also resonates with Philippe Descola’s post-naturalist ontology as well as Michel Serres’s call for a “natural contract.” The Quranic concept of Iṣlāḥ and Muṣliḥūn (Quran 7:56) exemplifies the untenable line between nature and culture. The Arabic root of Muṣliḥūn, or reconciliatory is SLḤ, which translates into “peace.” The French root of peace (paix), as shows Serres, also encompasses paysan (landscape) as well as pagus or pagan(7). Peace, landscape, and doing good are intertwined.
The tale represents a strategic departure from the Brethren’s typical communicative mode of technical and philosophical exposition. Here, they deploy the genre of fable as a narrative technique that engages the reader through conflict, suspense, humor, and sarcasm. This is not incidental and reflects the theory of the intellect and embodied soul found in other epistles. While intellectual demonstrations (barāhīn) are appropriate for certain sciences, such persuasions are neither memorable nor could inspire action (8). Allegorical literature, in contrast, represents an unfolding plot that is directed to the imagination (khayyāl), an embodied faculty that can induce affective motions (9).
Farhad Daftary has traced the intellectual lineage of the Ikhwān within the Ismāʿīlī tradition (10). Their contemporary successors have continued this tradition of environmental stewardship. On February 11, 2025, Prince Rahim al-Hussaini Aga Khan V assumed the role of the 50th hereditary Imam of the Ismaili Muslims. In his recent address to the global Ismaili community, he emphasized environmental stewardship as a moral imperative (11). This paper underlines the role of the Ismaili principle of balancing dīn (spiritual and otherworldly attentions) and dunyā (worldly prosperity) as a key element in creating a sustainable future.
Guillaume de Vaulx d’Arcy, trans., Les Épîtres des Frères en pureté (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2021).
Richard J. A. McGregor and Lenn Evan Goodman, The Case of the Animals versus Man(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012),
Meryem Sebti and D. De Smet, Noétique et théorie de la connaissance dans la philosophie arabe du IXe au XIIe siècle, Etudes musulmanes (Paris: Librairie philosophique J. Vrin, 2019).
At the margins of Islamic orthodoxy in the 9th century, an esoteric philosophical society, the Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ (Brethren of Purity), engaged the public in a utopian and equitable vision of collective life. Within their renowned encyclopedic treatise, Epistle 22: The Case of the Animals versus Man occupies a special place. This paper identifies three registers of critique within the animals’ grievances and humanity’s defense of its assumed superiority: anthropocentrism, logocentrism, and ethnocentrism. By integrating these critiques with the Quranic notions of Mīzān (balance), Khalīfah (lieutenancy), and Amānah (trust), this paper explores how this allegorical fable reveals the link between ecological injustices and unjust social imaginaries. The successors of the Ikhwān, the contemporary Ismailis, have continued this tradition of environmental stewardship. This paper maps the shared moral imperatives espoused by the Brethren onto the mission of the Aga Khan Development Network, an institution that has mobilized global efforts against climate crises.