Interfaith, Interdisciplinary, Interplanetary? Islamic Religious Education in the Era of Environmental Crisis

Husni Husni; Oliver B. Wren; Lilis Nurteti; Muhamad Adnan bin Daud; Selamet

doi:10.21154/cendekia.v23i2.11533

Authors

Husni Husni Program Pascasarjana, Universitas Islam Darussalam (UID), Ciamis, Jawa Barat
Oliver B. Wren Center for Character and Virtues Education, London, United Kingdom
Lilis Nurteti Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan, Universitas Islam Darussalam, Ciamis, Indonesia
Muhamad Adnan bin Daud Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Bandar Baru Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Selamet Program Pascasarjana, Universitas Islam Darussalam (UID), Ciamis, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21154/cendekia.v23i2.11533

Keywords:

Interfaith, interdisciplinary, interplanetary, Islamic religious education, environmental crisis

Abstract

Ecocrisis has become a fundamental challenge threatening the sustainability of life on this planet, necessitating the involvement of various sectors, including religious education. Islamic Religious Education (PAI) holds significant potential for fostering strong ecological awareness and ethics. However, PAI faces challenges such as a curriculum not yet deeply integrated with environmental issues and limited resources. This study aims to understand how PAI teachers in Ciamis Regency perceive, integrate, and respond to the environmental crisis in their teaching practices, and their openness to interfaith, interdisciplinary, and “interplanetary” approaches as an expansion of ecological consciousness. This research employs a qualitative design, utilizing in-depth interviews with several PAI teachers. Data was analyzed using thematic coding to identify key patterns and themes. The findings indicate that most teachers possess a good awareness of the environmental crisis and ethically and theologically link it to Islamic teachings. Nevertheless, the implementation of ecopedagogy in PAI classes remains largely incidental due to curriculum limitations and insufficient support. Interestingly, teachers demonstrated considerable openness to interfaith and interdisciplinary approaches for enriching the PAI curriculum, viewing them as means to enhance PAI's relevance. While the “interplanetary” idea remains speculative, glimmers of cosmic awareness are present in their narratives, potentially opening new theological insights. The implications suggest the need for explicit integration of ecological ethics into PAI curriculum and comprehensive teacher training modules, alongside the potential development of PAI based on spiritual-cosmological ecopedagogy.

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