Fazlun Khalid
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Fazlun Khalid (born 1932 in
Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...
,
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
) is a Sri Lankan born
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
Islamic ecotheologian and the Founder-Director of the
Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science The Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science (IFEES) is an environmental organization founded in 1993 by Fazlun Khalid in Birmingham, England. The IFEES have produced a range of educational materials aimed at raising Muslims' awar ...
based in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. He has served as director of training at the
Alliance of Religions and Conservation An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
and as a consultant for
World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...
.


Biography

Fazlun Khalid began his career in the
British Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of the Royal Flying Corps (R ...
, then joined the
British Civil Service In the United Kingdom, the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, which is led by a cabinet of ministers chosen ...
, working at the
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for twenty-three years. Upon his retirement, reading the works of
Alvin Toffler Alvin Eugene Toffler (October 4, 1928 – June 27, 2016) was an American writer, futurist, and businessman known for his works discussing modern technologies, including the digital revolution and the communication revolution, with emphasis on th ...
, Al-Hafiz B.A. Masri, and
Seyyed Hossein Nasr Seyyed Hossein Nasr (born April 7, 1933) is an Iranian Americans, Iranian-American academic, philosophy, philosopher, theology, theologian, and Ulama, Islamic scholar. He is University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University. ...
convinced him to devote the remainder of his life to raising environmental consciousness among Muslims. Since founding IFEES in 1994 he has spent much of his time traveling to Muslim communities around the world initiating
environmental education Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating discipli ...
projects in contexts as diverse as
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,
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
,
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, and
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
. Khalid has been described as "the single most active 'Islamic' environmentalist alive today".
Grist Magazine ''Grist'' (originally ''Grist Magazine''; also referred to as Grist.org) is an American non-profit online magazine founded in 1999 that publishes environmental news and commentary. ''Grists tagline is "Climate. Justice. Solutions." ''Grist'' ...
included him as the only Muslim among fifteen world leaders in religious environmentalism, calling him "the foremost expert on
ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...
from an Islamic Perspective". In 2004 Khalid received the
Fazlur Rahman Khan Fazlur Rahman Khan (, ''Fazlur Rôhman Khan''; 3 April 1929 – 27 March 1982) was a Bangladeshi-American structural engineer and architect, who initiated important structural systems for skyscrapers. Considered the "father of Tube (structure) ...
Award for excellence in Engineering, Science and Technology.
The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...
ranked him 81st among Britain's top 100 environmentalists. In September 2009 Khalid was invited by
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
Secretary General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...
Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...
to participate in the Climate Change Summit in New York City. He was invited to speak at the
Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...
in October 2010 as part of the interfaith initiative "Building Bridges of Hope: Success Stories and Strategies for Interfaith Action". In January 2011 he was invited to chair a workshop on "The Faith Factor: Religion's Role in Addressing Global Trends and Challenges" at the
World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...
Annual Meeting in
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,
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, where he was joined by Ex-US President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
.


Published works

* Editor, with Joanne O'Brien, ''Islam and Ecology'', London: Cassell, 1992. * "Guardians of the Natural Order", ''Our Planet'' 8/2, 1996. * "Islam, Ecology, and Modernity: An Islamic Critique of the Root Causes of Environmental Degradation", in
Richard Foltz Richard Foltz is a Canadian historian who specializes in the history of Iranian civilization — sometimes referred to as " Greater Iran". He has also been active in the areas of environmental ethics and animal rights. Biography Foltz is a ful ...
, Frederick Denny, and Azizan Baharuddin, eds., ''Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust'', Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...
, 2003, pp. 299–322. * "Applying Islamic Environmental Ethics", in
Richard Foltz Richard Foltz is a Canadian historian who specializes in the history of Iranian civilization — sometimes referred to as " Greater Iran". He has also been active in the areas of environmental ethics and animal rights. Biography Foltz is a ful ...
, ed., ''Environmentalism in the Muslim World'', New York: Nova Science, 2005, pp. 87–111. * "The Copenhagen Syndrome: The Financial Crisis and the Environment, an Islamic Perspective", ''Globalia magazine'', 12 January 2010 http://www.globaliamagazine.com/?id=896 *"Signs on the Earth: Islam, Modernity and the Climate Crisis", Kube Publishing, 2019


References


External links


Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science

BBC essay by Fazlun Khalid, "Rampant Society Upsets Natural Order"

Richard Foltz, "The Globalization of Muslim Environmentalism"


the ''
Jakarta Post ''The Jakarta Post'' is a daily English language, English-language newspaper in Indonesia. The paper is owned by PT Bina Media Tenggara and based in the nation's capital, Jakarta. ''The Jakarta Post'' started as a collaboration between four ...
'', 15 April 2010 * , "Muslims and the Environmental Crisis" * {{DEFAULTSORT:Khalid, Fazlun British environmentalists British Muslims 1932 births Living people Islamic environmentalists