Negotiating Shari'a and Sustainability: The Changing Roles of Islamic Organisations in Indonesia's Environmental Legal Reform

Abstract

Responses to the global ecological crisis called for reforms to environmental law that integrate scientific understanding alongside the ethics of religions. In Indonesia, Islamic communities influence the discourse on ecological legal order. However, their influence has been appreciated very little through the lens of responsive legal politics, as described by Nonet and Selznick, where law is seen as responsive to social critique and is coupled with the notion of substantial justice. Responding to this gap, this study looks at how the three largest Islamic bodies the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Muhammadiyah, and Nahdlatul Ulama approach the intersection of sharia and the principles of sustainability within the discourse on renewing environmental law in Indonesia. Guided by qualitative research, this study employs a document study approach and critical discourse analysis on Islamic legal texts, fatwas, thematic fiqh, and bahtsul masail, and examines their environmental law texts. The theory of responsive law, and the critique of the legal frameworks advanced by these institutions, enables the assessment of the presence of responsive law. The findings indicate that MUI functions as a moral legitimizer by issuing symbolic yet non-participatory ecological fatwas; Muhammadiyah operates as an epistemic producer and normative advocate through the advancement of progressive environmental fiqh and policy interventions; whereas NU embodies cultural-communitarian engagement with a cosmological perspective and a grassroots foundation. These three organizations exemplify a transition from normative law to a legal framework that is more attuned to ecological challenges, signifying a crucial transformation in the contextualization of Islamic law within Indonesia's sustainability agenda.