The climate catastrophe undoubtedly represents an existential crisis for humanity at large. But that’s not all. When asked about this recently, Sīdī Shaykh Muḥammad Faouzi al-Karkarī (QS) remarked that the crisis is above all spiritual.

What is the root cause of it all? Not greenhouse gases and rising temperatures, which are but symptoms. Rather, Sīdī Shaykh says, the source of the crisis is twofold: the proliferation of sin and neglecting the duty of zakāt. In fact, the Shaykh adds, the cause can really be reduced to love for wealth, or a materialist obsession with the body to the neglect of the spirit (al-rūḥ).

Overwhelmingly, the solutions put forward to address the climate crisis are proving ineffectual. The climate will not be saved by using fewer drinking straws or reusable tote bags. Nor will policy initiatives like the Green New Deal that offer “sustainable growth” save us. This is because, as Kōhei Saitō lucidly argues, care for the environment is fundamentally incompatible with capitalism.

Capitalism, as an economic system that depends on perpetual growth and profit accumulation, is an ideology of insatiable consumption, or what the Qur’an calls “takāthur” (Q 102:1). Thus, just as Sīdī Shaykh states, the problem is at its root spiritual.

For Saitō and others, the only solution to saving the environment — and avoiding the exploitation of countries and individuals in the Global South who subsidize, with their bodies and resources, the consumption habits of those in the Global North — is through what he calls “degrowth,” or living with less. That means that one does not need to shop “fast fashion” to replace their wardrobe every year, nor upgrade their iPhone annually. Fast fashion, an industry notorious for its abuse of servile labor, including Syrian children refugees and Uyghurs forced to work in Chinese concentration camps, has devastating impacts on the environment. Likewise, iPhones, like many other devices with rechargeable batteries, require cobalt, a metal that is largely mined by modern-day slave labor.

Though Saitō does not diagnose the problem as spiritual, it clearly is from the Ṣūfī perspective. Sīdī Shaykh reminds us of the ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ (Ibn Mājah):

Oh Emigrants (al-muhājirūn), you will be tested with five things, and I seek refuge in Allah that you live to see them. Immorality does not manifest among a people such that they commit it openly except that plagues and diseases will spread that were unknown to their predecessors. They will not cheat in weights and measures except they will be stricken with famine, severe calamity, and the oppression of their rulers. They will not withhold paying zakāt on their wealth except that rain from the skies will be withheld; and had it not been for the animals there would be no rain. They do not break their Covenant with Allah and His Messenger except that any enemy will overpower them and take what they have. And unless their leaders rule by the Book of Allah and seek good from what Allah revealed, then Allah will cause infighting among them.

The truth of the Prophet’s ﷺ words is plainly evident. This is why the disciple, Sīdī Shaykh says, must cultivate asceticism (zuhd). One cannot be a gnostic (ʿārif) until gold and dirt are of equal worth to them. The point is not to relinquish all of one’s belongings, but to detach one’s heart from what’s material and utilize whatever material blessings Allah favors one with to fulfill their obligations to Him, i.e., zakāt.

As Sīdī Shaykh says, just as the problem is spiritual, so too the solution must also be: istighfār, or seeking forgiveness from Allah. That is where the Karkarī knows to begin, but follows up also with abstaining from the illicit, fulfilling obligations, and remembering (dhikr), supplicating (duʿā’), and pleading (munājāt) with Allah.

The Karkarī’s spiritual praxis is not only for themselves, Sīdī Shaykh says, but for the benefit of humanity at large. Through repentance and prayer, we beseech Allah to overlook the harm we’ve caused to the environment and the destruction we’ve brought against ourselves. But moreover, we must be sure to treat the earth, and all the material blessings Allah bestowed upon us, as a Trust (amāna) that comes with a sacred duty: to recognize the earth as a gift, not a commodity for our consumption.

Allah is the Generous. As such, it is not the earth’s limited resources that is the cause of scarcity, but our unlimited appetites.