Hojjat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen Seyyed Ali Hosseini Neishabouri is one of those who has made the greatest effort to establish environmental jurisprudence. This associate professor of Imam Sadiq University (AS) has been working in the field of environmental jurisprudence for nearly twenty years. He has many articles and books in this field and is one of the founders of the Islamic encyclopedia “Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment”. We talked with him, who has a history of teaching, research, and holding meetings and conferences in this field, regarding the foundations and assumptions of environmental jurisprudence. He believes that there should be no rush to create a legal framework for the environment and one should read and learn more. The details of the exclusive conversation of Ijtihad Network with this professor and researcher of environmental jurisprudence will pass through your eyes.

Explain the meaning of environmental jurisprudence and its dimensions and scope in detail.

Hosseini: One of the important topics of jurisprudence in the history of jurisprudence is the classification of jurisprudence chapters; But we see that this classification has always undergone transformation and change. Now it is time to complete the previous classification according to the conditions of our time.

One of these areas that has a place to be mentioned as an important part of jurisprudence is environmental jurisprudence, for two reasons: one is that these topics, in the real sense, are affected. When we founded Farhang Jihad magazine 25 years ago, we knew that this issue of environmental jurisprudence would become one of the hot and important topics, and we wrote articles on this topic at the same time. But now it is clear to everyone that the environment has become one of the global challenges. Others have understood, specifically and generally, that it can make the environment and conditions of life on the planet difficult or very difficult and destroy parts of this unique divine blessing.

The second reason for the importance of these topics is that we should look for a solution. Currently, it is clear that the existing laws of the world cannot be proposed as a solution, although some officials of international institutions have also pointed to it.

But the meaning of environmental jurisprudence is that part of jurisprudence whose subjects (headings and sub-headings) are about the environment. Some of these topics have been around for a long time and some have not been discussed before, but they can be deduced from the evidence. Just as our jurisprudents have developed jurisprudence over time and deduced new problems and presented them to the believers, the same is true in environmental jurisprudence.

Ijtihad: Before entering environmental jurisprudence, what principles should be taken into consideration and based on it?

Hosseini: First, I have to say something as an introduction. Recently, in the field of environment, articles are being written and conversations are being said that are not mature; Because the theologian or writer has done incomplete studies in the field of environment, this issue causes the mastery of the words of experts in this field to be questioned. Therefore, in this area, we should be in a hurry to learn the basics of this area of jurisprudence, and we should not be in a hurry to give opinions and fatwas.

But environmental jurisprudence needs a series of general principles that are needed in all jurisprudence fields and it also needs specific principles. In my opinion, after recognizing the issue that needs serious work, we should expand our studies in verses and hadiths and write a smaller Shia al-Wasal al-Biyeh jurisprudence. You may say that these things are obvious, but when we enter the field of action, we see that it is a very broad field that needs serious work.

What were the presuppositions of jurists in solving environmental jurisprudence issues?

Professor Hosseini: The old jurists did not work on the environment, but they raised issues about the environment in a very interesting way. For example, some issues of environmental jurisprudence have been raised in Allameh’s books, and there is no special presupposition in this field. One of these foundations is the authenticity of verses and hadiths, which is the most important presupposition. But more importantly, it is to know that this nature has a creator, owner and lord who constantly manages the earth and the sky. The Creator, Owner and Lord has not abandoned this nature. He is the lord of seven heavens and seven earths, so it should be based on what he said in this nature. Therefore, the owner of mountains, seas, lakes, wells, springs, aqueducts, etc. is that Lord. Therefore, human beings are not allowed to have unrestrained control over this nature as they wish. These bases are against the basis of the principle of innocence. The problem of man is that he thinks that he is the owner of nature, when nature has an owner and a lord, and this is the case of all Islamic jurists.

Is it possible to consider one of the presuppositions of jurists in environmental issues to be the originality and valuing of humans as opposed to animals and plants?

Professor Hosseini: In my opinion, the answer is negative. We are not saying that man has no originality, but in the field of the environment, what creates a problem is that man thinks that he is superior to other creatures, and this idea has reached the depths of his being that he thinks that all plants and animals were created for him and are his property. are, so he can occupy them as he wants. This unbridled freedom and anti-Quranic and Alevi and Muhammadan culture, peace be upon them, has caused these problems to arise in the field of environment.

This is despite the fact that the Almighty God in the Qur’an and the imams (peace be upon them) mentions in more detail in the hadiths that you were created and born from nature, you were raised and grew up in the lap of nature, you breathe from this nature and meet your needs. you provide The earth, the sky, the water, the soil, the animals, and the blessings of the Almighty God are at your disposal, so you have no right to deal with nature however you want.

One of the greatest blessings of God is that he has provided the basis for the use of nature for mankind. The art of Islamic jurisprudence is to express the limits of this possession and use well and accurately; Because the person who founded this jurisprudence knows nature and man very well. Of course, it is necessary to pay attention to this point that because human beings are self-centered and selfish and have egoism and give all originality to themselves, the originality, greatness, greatness, beauty and high dignity of animals, including birds, quadrupeds, reptiles and He does not see water.

This point is very key. When they said that a girl named Mehsa Amini was killed, see how much the world’s media talked about it. How many words, poetry, art, etc. they produced. What a fuss the American media made about this. If anyone has worked in media affairs, they understand that this amount of content production is very, very amazing. But in the last two years, how many forests have caught fire in America, Australia, Europe, Russia, and Africa. How much was said about this? The footage of the Australian forest fires was very shocking. Forests affect the atmosphere of the entire planet, not just their region. So, why is the media not working on this? Because they have turned away from God, the Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, who are divine proofs on earth.

Is it possible to consider the lack of right to life for animals and plants as one of the presuppositions of jurists in environmental issues?

Professor Hosseini: No. This is not the case at all. If someone attributes this article to the jurists, he has attributed a great honor to them. The jurists in the field of jurisprudence, from Sheikh Sadouq and Mufid to the great martyr Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Sadr, all the nobles have expressed very good discussions about this. In the book of Wasal al-Shia, we have a narration that when the Messenger of God was taken to the throne, he saw a believing woman in hell. They said Gabriel! Why is this woman in hell? Jibreel said: “Lahera hastastha then you died” because of the cat that this woman had imprisoned and died at the same time. This woman should be in hell with all her faith.

I was newly married and had come to Qom. I had rented an old dilapidated house. There was a cat in this house, and later the children of this cat used to bother us a lot. I went to my teacher Ayatollah Azmi Haj Sheikh Javad Tabrizi and asked him: Am I allowed to destroy these cats? He said: No. I said: We are in a lot of trouble. They said: Carefully put the cats in a bag and leave them in the desert, but you do not have the right to kill them. So to say that jurists don’t have rights for animals is a big lie.

We have a narration that the Holy Prophet saw in the ascension that a wicked woman was in heaven. Hazrat asked the reason. They said: This woman heard the sound of a dog howling from inside a well. This dog was thirsty in a dry well, and this woman wet her clothes and sent it into the well to quench this dog’s thirst.

The late Allameh Jafari wrote a beautiful article about environmental jurisprudence, and then Mr. Sheikh Ahmed Abedi wrote articles about animal rights that were translated into Italian, which surprised them.

In the book “Sharh Lamea”, which is a textbook in the field, it mentions about expenses, after the expenses of the wife, parents, children and relatives, the expenses of the animals and then the expenses of the plants. He says that it is obligatory to give maintenance to the animal so that it does not die.

Issues have been raised in jurisprudence that conflict with the rights of animals, such as castrating animals. How can these rulings be justified?

Professor Hosseini: There are two types of animals. Some animals, their creation and nature are such that they are created for human use. Regarding the education of these animals, there are some issues, therefore, regarding food and drink in the book of Lamea, very detailed issues are raised that God Almighty does not allow humans to kill and eat any animal. I was careful. If God allowed animals that are forbidden to be eaten, the generation of those animals would become extinct.

But a group of animals is trained by humans for use. Of course, I don’t want to say that there are no wrong fatwas in this field, but in general, what the jurists said is excellent, but it is insufficient and needs a system. In environmental jurisprudence, we need a system that our jurisprudence does not oppose to this system. Some say that our jurisprudence does not reflect the system, but we do not think so.

This article is a part of the file “Fundamentals of Environmental and Natural Resources Jurisprudence” and will be prepared and published in collaboration with Ijtihad Network.