Contemplation: A Divine Command; An Environmental Demand: A Poetic Islamecocritical Study

Contemplation is an ancient concept that appears in religion, philosophy, and literature throughout almost all cultures and epochs. From the point of view of Islamecocriticism, it is a divine command and an environmental demand. Islamecocriticism has been acknowledged as a new approach to Ecocriticism with the publication of Abolfotoh’s “Islamecocriticism: Green Islam Introduced to Ecocriticism” in the ISLE. The new approach is oriented toward introducing Islamic thought to the Western ecocritical project. Contemplation is believed to be the absent concept present in various ecocritical debates. Although contemplation is narrowly classified as a spiritual religious practice, it intervenes in all aspects of life. Contemplating the degradation of nature, for instance, was the actual spark that gave rise to Ecocriticism, and all poetic writings are primarily contemplative. Nevertheless, it has not yet been accredited as an ecocritical term. The present paper aims at introducing contemplation as a key concept in environmentalism from an Islamecocritical standpoint. The word has Latin origins and means to view or observe with continued attention. Therefore, contemplation activates the senses to genuinely hear, touch, smell, and see. Accordingly, it opens a legible space for the mind to think, discover, and change. These points of discussion and more are illustrated in light of three Canadian poems. Contemplation proves to be a valuable motive toward action. Moreover, contemporaries are encouraged to be engaged in it and to explore its effects.