This week, the UNEP The Faith for Earth Coalition announced that 'Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth' is now available in eight languages.
This scholarly Islamic text can now be read in English, French, Arabic, Turkish, Bahasa Indonesia, Urdu, and Swahili. A further two translations – Bahasa Malaysia and Kurdish – are being prepared. Additional languages will become available as teams of translators and scholars of Islam work together around the world.
Launched on 27 February 2024, Al-Mizan was presented as 'a call to action for Muslims and non-Muslims alike to embrace their role as custodians of the Earth and to work towards a more sustainable and equitable future for all beings.'
About Al-Mizan
Al-Mizan: Covenant for the Earth is based on Islamic teachings that emphasise the balance, harmony, and stewardship of the Earth.
At the launch of the Covenant in February 2024, Iyad Abumoghli, Founder and Director of the Faith for Earth Coalition of UNEP wrote: 'In Islam, the term 'Al-Mizan' refers to balance or justice, and it is often used to describe the equilibrium that should be maintained in all aspects of life, including the relationship between humanity and the environment.'
A call to action
Al-Mizan outlines the triple crises in our world today: global climate change, loss of biological diversity and pollution, which highlights the need for ecological and social justice. From there, Al-Mizan uses scripture to explore how humanity should respond to these crises, and finally, it offers an extensive set of pledges to tackle them, including setting up a trust fund to promote local projects; creating an Al-Mizan international day for awareness raising; facilitating a bi-annual conference and implementing an Al-Mizan mosques initiative so that every mosque can teach on Islam and the environment.
Global problems and multi-faith solutions
Al-Mizan offers global solutions to the global problems it identifies. In the year since it was launched, Al-Mizan's impact is being felt in the Islamic world in a similar way to Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato Si' had on Catholics in 2015.
'It [Al-Mizan] presents an Islamic outlook on the environment in a bid to strengthen local, regional, and international actions to combat the triple planetary crises defined by the United Nations as climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. It is a global endeavour to engage Muslims from all levels of society in the development and adoption of this call.'
The UNEP Faith for Earth Coalition's vision is to make Al-Mizan available in as many languages as possible, ensuring it serves as a universal guide for ecological responsibility and interfaith dialogue along with its sibling, Laudato Si'.
Find out more
To download a copy of Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth in one of the available languages, visit the UN Environment document library.
FaithInvest, founder of Faith Plans, hosts the Living Laudato Si' Resource Hub on its website, which includes sector-specific practical guides to implementing the teachings of Laudato Si' across four sectors: schools, universities, dioceses and congregations, in nine languages.
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