INTRODUCTION

It is a fact that the environmental issue is a new contemporary problem and that, in our ancestors' days, it was not as important and alarming as it is ; today because ; back then, there was no pollution.  Consequently, one cannot expect to find in our muslim heritage any direct and detailed treatments to this problem, or the same careful thoughts and debates which it provokes nowadays.  We have no written works on the issue; even in the Islamic legal texts, we find no passage dealing with it. Therefore, this problem is really specific to our era, and it is our duty to deal with it earnestly, to lay down whatever regulations, directives and measures that are appropriate for finding a solution for it.

Although we have no precise texts and no detailed studies to rely on, we can nevertheless find in the holy texts of the Quran and the Sunna some passages stating the rules of good behaviour to be respected and promoted if we are to create an ecological culture, to make the necessary efforts to save the environment, and to adopt a civilized environment-friendly way of life.

For these reasons, we here present these studies with the aim to broaden the readers' theoretical knowledge and increasing their awareness of the environmental problems in the hope that Muslims will be able to remedy those problems in their respective countries and to participate in the search for solutions worldwide.