Reasoning Ecological Fatwas: The Progressive Response of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to the Phenomenon of Climate Change in Indonesia

Abstrak

This article aims to discuss the epistemological basis of MUI's ecological fatwa and its contribution to responding the phenomenon of climate change. Today's environmental crisis is no longer a threat to the earth, but has become a reality. Climate change that occurs on a national and global scale has a negative impact on the lives of Earth's inhabitants. One of the reasons for the environmental crisis is the human attitude that is not friendly to the environment. Humans as God's ambassadors on earth act arbitrarily in exploiting the potential of natural resources in a destructive and exploitative manner. Therefore, guidance is needed for Muslims in their interactions with the surrounding environment. MUI as a body of religious authority has contributed to overcoming the environmental crisis and climate change. The ecological fatwas issued by MUI are expected to be able to change the attitude and behavior of Muslims to become environmentally conscious (eco-literacy). Epistemologically, the MUI fatwas with an eco-friendly basic are based on the reasoning of maqāṣid syarī'ah through maslahat-mafsadat analysis. The approach used in finding the value of the spirit of environmental conservation is based on naṣṣ qaṭ'ī, qaulī and manhajī methods. These three sources of knowledge are formulated in a fatwa product with an eco-friendly basic as a response to the environmental crisis that has become a global discourse today. Thus, the MUI fatwa can function as a tool of social control and a tool of social engineering.