The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) has recently issued a fatwa calling for divestment from fossil fuels and for Muslim investment in a 100 percent renewable energy future based on “shariah-compliant” investment vehicles. According to the statement adopted during the 2019 annual gathering of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA):
We recognize and re-affirm the scholarly work regarding the issues of Islam and the Environment which are found in existing Islamic statements, declarations and religious rulings on these matters. The 2015 Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change was put forward by groups of Muslim scholars, religious councils and organizations around the globe. We acknowledge the 2016 decision and public announcement of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) to divest all its financial assets from fossil fuel industries. We acknowledge that there is an urgent existential threat to the health, wellbeing and continuity of life on Earth. According to the Qur’an [the highest source of Islamic teachings], Allah [God] appointed human beings as His trustees [stewards, guardians and care-takers] of the Earth. As such, it is the individual and collective duty and responsibility of humanity to develop Allah’s gifts of natural resources for its prosperity.
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According to one media report, the FCNA fatwa was announced at the Financing the Future: The Global Climate Divest that was supported by a large number of environmental, human rights, and development organizations as well as by government institutions and large companies.
In May 2017, it was reported that ISNA, the parent group of FCNA, had announced its commitment to sell off all its investments in coal, oil, and natural gas companies within three years. GMBDW reporting has included other environmental initiatives undertaken by Global Muslim Brotherhood groups:
- In August 2015, we reported on an international climate change symposium held in Istanbul and supported by Islamic Relief Worldwide.
- In January 2014, we reported that the Forum of Muslim Youth and Student Organizations (FEMYSO) had launched an ecological project in conjunction with an Islamic NGO and partly financed by the Council of Europe.
- In November 2012, we reported that a new US Muslim Brotherhood group had announced that environmental protection was one of the group’s goals.
- In September 2012 we reported that a Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas lobby group had been visited by representatives of a German Foundation associated with Germany’s Green Party and which identified “climate justice ” as one of its goals.
The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) is an organization comprised of Islamic scholars associated with the Global Muslim Brotherhood. As FCNA itself acknowledges, the organization grew out of the activities of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and later became affiliated with the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), itself an outgrowth of MSA. FCNA maintains a relationship with other similar bodies in the Global Muslim Brotherhood including the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) as well as the Islamic Fiqh Academy in Saudi Arabia. Two individuals known to have been ECFR members, Jamal Badawi and Solah Soltan, are also known to have been associated with the FCNA.