V. V. Naumkin

Institute of Oriental studies of Russian Academy of Sciences (IOS RAS), Moscow, Russia, е-mail:  director@ivran.ru

ON THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN ISLAM

Sustainable development ideas have become quite a popular trend in contemporary West-ern intellectual discourse, which, however, has not bypassed the Muslim scholars. Increasingly among the Islamic scientific elite they say of existing in the Islamic religious heritage the ideas which are congruent with this concept. Among the main risks and threats are the imbalances generated by human activity: unevenness of technological development, gap between developed and developing countries, huge military expenditure, natural resource depletion, pollution, mili-tarization and pollution of space, increase in the number of accidents and natural disasters, ter-rorism, etc.

The proposed Islamic concept of sustainable development strategy focuses on the follow-ing main points: stability of economic growth; reducing the gap between the rich and the poor, and providing mass access to natural and public goods (water, food, health care, education, etc.); overcoming the intergenerational gap in the use of natural resources; prevention of environmental pollution. In the interpretation of the Islamic scholars, the concept of sustainable development offers a change the barbaric attitude of man to nature to a unified mutually supported by socio-natural evolution (according to the academician N. N. Moiseev). Thus, relying on the values of Islam stabilizing activity of society the Muslim world offers its answers the common to all mankind serious challenges.

Keywords: Islam, concept development, religious heritage, Muslim world

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