AL JAZEERA SCREENING: RESTORING THE BALANCE & AL-MIZAN-A COVENANT FOR EARTH

A screening & discussion on 'Restoring the Balance' with *earthrise, which follows the progress of Al-Mizan, an Islamic Covenant for Earth
Organised by
Islamic Courses
with the support of
Ebrahim College
:
AL JAZEERA SCREENING OF 'RESTORING THE BALANCE' AND UPDATE ON THE AL-MIZAN, AN ISLAMIC COVENANT FOR THE EARTH
With
Amanda Burrell
[
Environmental Broadcaster & Series Producer and Juror - Goldman Environmental Prize
]
Professor Ibrahim Özdemir
[
Scholars Drafting Team member of the 'Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth', UN Environment Programme
]
Harfiyah Haleem
[
Trustee of Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences [IFEES]
]
Date and time
: Friday 26th June 2026, 6p
m - 7.30
pm
Venue
:
Ebrahim College, 399-401 High Street, Stratford, London E15 4QZ
Join us on a screening and discussion on 'Restoring the Balance' with *earthrise, which follows the progress of Al-Mizan, an Islamic Covenant for the Earth.
*earthrise is Al Jazeera’s award-winning environmental show exploring the most significant threats to our planet by highlighting eco-friendly solutions from around the world. earthrise brings you the stories of those who strive to improve our quality of life and reduce our negative impact on the earth.
In 2024, the Faith for Earth Initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched at the 6th United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA-6) in Nairobi. A global push to bring together Islamic institutions from around the world in a bid to combat pollution, climate change and other threats to the planet. Called Mizan, Arabic for “balance”, the charter is designed to showcase Islam’s teachings on the environment and spur the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims to embrace sustainability as part of their everyday lives. It had taken five years to put together by an eminent group of twelve Islamic scholars and environmental activists spread from Indonesia to the States. What was also notable in this endeavour was the comprehensive consultation process that went into consolidating the draft of the Covenant. The first draft was circulated to more than three hundred Islamic institutions worldwide for comment, and a further review was carried out with the assistance of twenty-eight eminent experts and academics from various countries. The Covenant is spread over 40,000 words, consisting of five chapters and an annex, as follows:
Chapter 1: An Appraisal of the Earth
Chapter 2: Signs of God in the Heavens and the Earth
Chapter 3: The Ecological Ethos and the Ethics of Islam
Chapter 4: Equity, Fairness and Justice in Sharing the Sources of Life
Chapter 5: Principles and Practices for Tending the Earth
Annex: A Way Forward
Whilst the first chapter encapsulates the current state of planet Earth, the other four chapters are drawn exclusively from teachings in the Qur’an and the consequent evolution of Islamic jurisprudence (Shariah) in relation to human relationships with the natural world. The Covenant provides ample evidence of the existence of an integrated ecological ethic from the beginnings of Islam and its evolution as Islam spread into numerous ecological systems from West Africa all the way to China. This realisation issues a challenge to the Muslim world to join in the leadership that is attempting to save the planet from further destruction. The annex to the covenant lays down the way forward. The most important of these recommendations is education. Unfortunately, even within the madrasa system, as increasing urbanisation and consumerism is distancing children from the natural world. Those who deliver the Friday sermons and the scholarly community also have a profound responsibility to normalise the understanding and application of Islamic creation theology. There has been an encouraging increase in the volume of dissertations and research studies appearing in academia concerning the Islamic environmental ethic since the 1990s. It is hoped that those who are armed with this knowledge will form the vanguard of teachers and activists reaffirming the human role as Khalifa, leaving a liveable Earth for future generations.
About the speakers:
Amanda Burrell
[
Environmental Broadcaster & Series Producer and Juror - Goldman Environmental Prize
] - Amanda is a multiple award-winning documentary producer and presenter. She believes that the environmental crisis is the most newsworthy and consequential issue of our times. Inspired by stories of positive environmental action, Amanda creates films that focus on the fight to heal the Earth, and stories of the people engaged in it. She has fled from crime lords in tribal India with a camera on her shoulder, climbed vertical crevasses using crampons to obtain footage from the top of a 5,400m glacier in Peru, interviewed heroin dealers in north London alongside veteran broadcaster Rageh Omaar, and reported solo from Bhutan on the plight of displaced Lhotshampa refugees. A graduate of Clare College, Cambridge with a degree in history, Amanda speaks Turkish, Italian and French plus conversational Hindi and Urdu. She currently works between London and Qatar as the executive producer for Al Jazeera English’s flagship environmental documentary earthrise. The series was recognised no less than eight times at the most recent (2020) New York TV and Film Festivals Awards, and won in the ‘Politics and Business’ category at the 2019 Association of International Broadcasters Awards (AIBs). At One World Media 2018 in London, earthrise won the Women’s Entrepreneur’s Reporting Award for Water Wise Women.
Professor Ibrahim Özdemir
[
Scholars Drafting Team member of the 'Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth', UN Environment Programme
] -
Professor Ibrahim Özdemir is a professor of philosophy at Uskudar University, Istanbul. He holds a Doctorate degree in philosophy from the Middle East Technical University, Turkey. His major is environmental ethics and environmental philosophy. He was part of the drafting team of the Islamic Declaration for Global Climate Change, 2015 and a Strategy Document for the Islamic Conference of Environment Ministers (ICEM), 02-03 October 2019 in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco. His most recent publications include The Ethical Dimension of Human Attitude Towards Nature, 2nd edition, Insan Publications: Istanbul, 2008; Jalaluddin Rumî and Confucius: Messages and Visions for a New Century, Tugra Books: New Jersey, 2013.
Harfiya Haleem
is best known as the editor of Islam and the Environment, a foundational text that outlines the ethical and spiritual principles guiding ecological conservation and environmental stewardship within Islamic tradition. She has been active on Islamic Environmentalism for the last 25 years and is a trustee of Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences [IFEES]].
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