‘Islam and Sustainability’: Interview with Fazlun Khalid

What insights can a pioneer of Islamic environmentalism offer at a conference addressing the global sustainability crisis? This interview features Fazlun Khalid, Founder-Director of the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES), recorded at the “Sustainability in Crisis” conference held in Cambridge from September 26-28, 2011. In this conversation, Khalid explores the relationship between Islamic teaching and sustainability, drawing on his extensive experience founding one of the earliest organizations dedicated to Islamic environmentalism.

He examines how Islamic principles of balance, stewardship, and moderation directly inform a framework for addressing the environmental crisis, offering a theological perspective grounded in decades of advocacy work. Speaking at a conference explicitly framed around the urgency of the sustainability crisis, Khalid’s remarks underscore the timeliness and relevance of faith-based environmental thinking within broader academic and policy conversations on global sustainability.