Reducing Wasteful Consumption Towards Sustainability by Waste Avoidance Using Self-Improvement (Tazkiyah) and Contentment (Qana‘ah) Approaches

Abstract

This study examines the connection between consumer greed and wasteful consumption, as well as its negative impact on the environment and the individual. It also promotes an Islamic approach to mitigate consumption levels by emphasising the spiritual aspect of man’s being in accordance with the Islamic world view. Man was created in such a fashion that if he reforms his desires to strive for well-being in the Hereafter, he can be successful. However, if he becomes overly attached to material goods beyond his need and other excessive worldly (dunyā) attachments, he will fail. This study reviews Islamic teachings from the Noble Qur’an and Sunnah with reference to greed and waste and provides solutions in training the soul through reflection and changing one’s mindset (tafakkur) and through self-improvement (tazkiyah al-nafs) to achieve true contentment (qana‘ah) and well-being, with a balanced level (wasaṭiyyah) of material comforts, while satisfying the higher objectives of Islamic law (maqasid al-Sharī‘ah). The United Nations Agenda 21 for environmental sustainability emphasised that the major cause of the continued degradation of the global environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in industrialised countries (United Nations 1992). The well-known waste management hierarchy as a tool for waste management (avoidance, minimisation, reuse, recycle, energy recovery, disposal) stresses waste avoidance as the preferred high-level strategy; however, this approach – along with Western science in general – had proffered little guidance on moderating consumer desires at the point of purchase.