ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS IN SUFISM

This study explores the concept of environmental awareness in Sufism and examines the Sufi perspective on the relationship between humans and nature. It primarily focuses on how core Sufi spiritual values, such as mercy, asceticism, and beauty, contribute to shaping a cognitive and existential stance towards the environment. The research seeks to highlight the Sufi view of nature, as worthy of respect, preservation, and care, based on the fact that it embodies manifestations of the Divine Names of Allah. Furthermore, it sheds light on the potential role of Sufism in promoting environmental awareness amid contemporary material challenges. In spite of ongoing scientific advances in the study of environmental change, the environment remains one of the most pressing issues of our time. With their escalation in number and scale, complexity and gravity, these problems have brought environmental pressures upon mankind to an unprecedented level. As a consequence, the environment has become an urgent international issue that has brought with it serious questions about the future of human life on the planet. Environmental issues have never received so much international attention as they do now, as is evidenced in extensive statistics, studies, research endeavors and conferences throughout the world. Nevertheless, we must recognize that the environmental crisis is especially a moral and spiritual crisis, for which there will be no purely technical, technological, legal, or political solution.