PIIRS Graduate Fellow examines relationship between environmentalism and 'epistemic waste' in new paper

In recent decades, works on Islamic environmentalism have increased, multiplied with efforts to ground an ethics based on the resources of the Islamic scholarly tradition. 

In a new study in Journal of Religious Ethics, Aysenur Cam, 2025-2026 PIIRS Graduate Fellow and doctoral candidate in the Department of Religion, offers an approach to environmentalism that is based on a Qur’anic epistemology of divine names. “We all recognize that avoiding wastefulness is important for the environment,” she said. “So, when we come across a Qur'anic verse that says, ‘Eat and drink but do not waste,’ what new understanding and insight is scripture truly offering us? What unique guidance is there in such a verse?”

In her paper, Cam offers a brief look at some of the common and contemporary approaches to Islamic environmentalism. She then offers a brief introduction to Said Nursi and why his Risâle-i Nur is a valuable candidate in offering an epistemological Islamic framework for environmental thought. 

“The Qur'an offers a worldview in which waste is not only in material or physical terms,” she said. “‘Epistemic waste,’ as I call it, occurs when we do not recognize that there is a meaningful message being imparted to us through everything in creation. This means that, for example, if I have before me a pint of strawberries, I should definitely be careful to not waste them in terms of their physical reality, but I should also not waste the meaning-content that they hold. Through their existence and reflected qualities, they signpost to an absolute source of sustenance, beauty, and wisdom. In every interaction and experience I encounter, then, there is an opportunity for me to partake in meaningful communication.”

“Through this article, I aim to show an approach to environmentalism that mandates respectful living with the world by virtue of both their physical reality as well as their immaterial one,” she added. “An Islamic eco-ethic is one that recognizes all of creation is sacred and that through the world, much is revealed about both ourselves as well as the divine. The epistemic reality that the Qur'an offers holds potential to transform not just our eco-ethic but also our dealings with ourselves, fellow human beings, and everything else that we encounter in our lives.”

The study “Islamic Environmentalism and Epistemic Waste” was published in Journal of Religious Ethics on October 28, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jore.70009