Akhlaq
Caring for the earth
Trustees, not owners
3 min, Intro
The Qur'an calls humans khalifah: trustees on the earth. It forbids waste, and corruption of the land. The Prophet's teachings on trees, water and animals read like an early ethic of care.
Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review
The thread
Before Adam is created, God tells the angels He is placing a khalifah, a trustee, on the earth. The lesson follows what Muslims have read that trust to mean. No waste, not even of water. And planting trees, even as the Hour arrives.
Trustees on the earth
Picture the moment before Adam, as the Qur'an tells it. God tells the angels: I am placing on the earth a khalifah, a successor or steward.
The angels answer with a question. Will humans spread corruption and shed blood?
Muslim scholars read this as a trust. People may use the earth's resources. But they answer for how they use them.
وَإِذۡ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلۡمَلَٰٓئِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلࣰ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ خَلِيفَةࣱۖ قَالُوٓاْ أَتَجۡعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفۡسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسۡفِكُ ٱلدِّمَآءَ وَنَحۡنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمۡدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَۖ قَالَ إِنِّيٓ أَعۡلَمُ مَا لَا تَعۡلَمُونَ ٣٠
30 And [remember] when your Lord said to the angels, “I am going to appoint a vicegerent on earth.” They said, “Will You appoint on it someone who will spread corruption therein and shed blood, while we glorify You with Your praises and proclaim Your holiness?” He said, “I know that which you do not know.”
Muslim scholars read the earth as held in trust, not owned outright.
Do not waste
So what does holding the earth in trust look like day to day? The Qur'an starts with food. Eat and drink, it says, but do not be excessive; God does not love the wasteful.
It also gives a warning on a larger scale. Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what people's hands have done.
The Prophet ﷺ showed the same care with water. He made wudu', the washing before prayer, with about a mudd, a double handful of water.
A well-known narration goes further. It has him telling a man not to waste water in wudu' even at a flowing river. Hadith scholars grade that one weak, but the principle is widely taught.
۞ يَٰبَنِيٓ ءَادَمَ خُذُواْ زِينَتَكُمۡ عِندَ كُلِّ مَسۡجِدࣲ وَكُلُواْ وَٱشۡرَبُواْ وَلَا تُسۡرِفُوٓاْۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلۡمُسۡرِفِينَ ٣١
31 O children of Adam, dress well for every prayer. Eat and drink, but do not waste, for He does not like the wasteful.
ظَهَرَ ٱلۡفَسَادُ فِي ٱلۡبَرِّ وَٱلۡبَحۡرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتۡ أَيۡدِي ٱلنَّاسِ لِيُذِيقَهُم بَعۡضَ ٱلَّذِي عَمِلُواْ لَعَلَّهُمۡ يَرۡجِعُونَ ٤١
41 Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what people’s hands have earned, so that He may cause them to taste the consequence of some of their deeds, so that they may return.
In the Qur'an, eating and drinking come with a limit: God does not love the wasteful.
The seedling and the Hour
Not wasting is one side of the trust. The other side is planting.
The Prophet ﷺ said: no Muslim plants a tree or sows a crop and a bird, a person or an animal eats from it, except that it is counted as charity for him.
Another narration, in the Musnad of Ahmad, goes further still. If the Hour comes while one of you holds a seedling, plant it.
The world is ending, and the seedling still goes in the ground. In this narration, doing good does not wait for results.
There is no Muslim who plants a tree or sows a crop, and a bird, a person or an animal eats from it, except that it is charity for him.
Sahih al-Bukhari 2320, Sahih Muslim 1553 Sahih In Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim
In this narration, doing good does not wait for results, even at the end of the world.