DYNAMIC HIERARCHIES OF VULNERABILITY IN THE QUR'ANIC WORLDVIEW: AN ECOCRITICAL AND INTERTEXTUAL DIALOGUE

Abstract

 This study emerges from growing concern over the ecological crisis shaped by humanity’s worldview of the earth. Within the mechanistic paradigm, the earth is frequently reduced to a vast extractive machine that may be exploited without restraint. In response to this problem, this article examines the Qur’anic worldview as part of the broader Abrahamic scriptural tradition concerning cosmic relations. The study employs a qualitative-descriptive method based on library research, combining intertextual and ecocritical approaches. The findings reveal the limitations of singular paradigms, such as anthropocentrism, biocentrism, ecocentrism, and theocentrism, in fully explaining the Qur’anic worldview. As in the Bible, the Qur’an presents a fluid and non-monolithic spectrum of relations between humans, nature, and the divine. Rather than focusing solely on who occupies the centre of the universe, the Qur’anic cosmology emphasizes which beings are most vulnerable and therefore most deserving of protection. This perspective gives rise to a hierarchy of vulnerability in which non-human creatures, alongside vulnerable human groups such as orphans and the poor, are entrusted to humanity as khalīfah responsible for maintaining earthly balance. God, by contrast, is portrayed as the Absolute and All-Powerful, beyond all vulnerability and in no need of protection. Yet this hierarchy remains dynamic, as the Qur’an depicts humans simultaneously as khalīfah and mustaḍ‘afūn: righteous yet oppressive, entrusted yet ignorant, and at times even lower than animals. At the same time, the Qur’an repeatedly condemns fasād, including oppression and excessive exploitation (isrāf). The study ultimately identifies three foundational pillars: entrusted power and responsibility (khalīfah), protection of vulnerable beings, and the prevention of greater fasād.