Khalifah: caring for the earth
Islamic Studies · Key Stage 2 · The School
A word for successor, often read as steward
The Quran tells how Allah told the angels He was putting a successor on earth (2:30). That Arabic word is KHALIFAH. Translators give it as successor or deputy. The scholar Ibn Kathir explained it as people coming after one another, generation after generation. Many Muslim scholars today explain it as steward. On that reading, humans are given a kind of job here. It is a responsibility. It is not full ownership, to use the earth however anyone likes. This is a big idea to hold.
Responsibility, not ownership
A steward looks after something. That something belongs to someone else in the end. A steward expects to answer for how it was treated. Muslim teachers often apply this idea to the natural world. Water, animals, land, resources. All cared for. Not simply used up. The idea applies to small choices too, each day.
What caring for the earth looks like in practice
This idea leads to real teaching. Muslim teachers have long taught: do not waste water, not even during wudu itself. Plant things. Care for what you plant. Do not be cruel to animals for no reason. None of this is a separate, modern "eco" idea bolted on. Many Muslim teachers link these teachings to the idea of looking after something held in trust. The Quran also tells people to eat and drink but not to be extravagant (7:31). Small choices add up fast.
Here is an imagined class. The school owns a bare flower bed. In September the head teacher lets Year 6 look after it. She says she will ask in spring how they did. The class digs out the weeds and plants daffodil bulbs. They water with a can, not a running hose. Pupils take turns to check the bed and write their names on a list. In the cold weeks the work feels dull. One pupil says the bed is theirs now, so they can pull it all up. The class says no. The bed belongs to the school. They are only looking after it. In spring the head teacher comes. The bed is full of daffodils. The class shows her the list. She sees it was well looked after. The class never owned the bed. It could answer for its work. In this picture, the class acted as stewards. Scholars read the word khalifah in different ways. Ibn Kathir explained it in 2:30 as people coming one after another, generation after generation. The 2015 Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change, from a group of Muslim scholars, says people were chosen to be stewards on the earth. 6:165 says Allah made people successors on the earth, to test them through what He gives them. The flower bed is this lesson's own picture, not something either ayah says.