Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Protection of the Environment Under Islamic Law: Why the Irreconcilable Cannot Be Reconciled

Matthias Cuypers

 

“Wa li-kulli shay’ in lahu ?yatun,

Tadullu ‘al? annahu w?hidun”

(“In everything there resides a sign of Him,

Providing proof that He is one”)

 

Abstract: Much has already been written about the issue of legality of weapons of mass destruction. This is often done through the lenses of public international law. This article emphasises the importance of an inclusive approach to the issue, i.e., by engaging with other legal traditions. To provide the broadest possible protection against weapons of mass destruction, it is crucial not to confine ourselves solely to the safe contours of public international law. This article, therefore, considers the issue under Islamic law. Just as in public international law, the primary focus in Islamic law is also often on jus ad bellum (the rules determining the legality of a state’s resort to armed conflict) and jus in bello (the rules on how an armed conflict needs to be conducted) arguments when assessing the legality of weapons of mass destruction. However, this article addresses the issue from an interdisciplinary perspective within Islamic law focusing on the Islamic law of armed conflict and Islamic environmental law. More precisely, this article probes how Islamic law of armed conflict regards weapons of mass destruction from the perspective of protecting the natural environment? The analysis of different existing Islamic law of armed conflict approaches to weapons of mass destruction and the Islamic principles and ethics related to the protection of the natural environment reveals that Islamic law is opposed to weapons of mass destruction.