From Anthropocentric to Ecocentric Jurisprudence: A Maqasid-Based Reconstruction of Islamic Environmental Ethics toward Intergenerational Equity

This article reconstructs Islamic environmental ethics from a stewardship framework that is persuasive towards an ecocentric jurisprudence based on maqasid, which responds to the demands of intergenerational equity. Using a normative-conceptual approach, this study analyses the anthropocentric bias in the discourse and governance of Islamic environmental issues. The main findings indicate that anthropocentrism rarely appears as an explicit doctrine but operates as a recurring pattern of legal reasoning in framing problems, policy priorities, and institutional design. As a result, this article outlines a typology of anthropocentric reasoning, specifically instrumental-extractivist, normative-symbolic dualism, sectoral-coordinative fragmentation, and centralisation-participation deficits. It also identifies normative anchors for the shift towards an ecocentric perspective, where maqasid and maslahah serve as a grammar of justification requiring the reading of consequences and the prevention of ecological mafsadah; the Qur’anic ontology as a principle of limitation; and classical conservation institutional memory as an inspiration for modern ecological accountability. Within this framework, intergenerational equity is formulated as a normative horizon that tests short-termism, burden shifting, and the safeguarding of ecological baselines for the future. The contribution of this article is an analytical and reconstructive framework that bridges Islamic environmental ethics and intergenerational justice, while also proposing an initial institutional pathway for more consistent Islamic environmental governance across sectors and generation.