The path to the water: Developing islamic theories of transboundary aquifer governance

This research explores possible elements of Islamic law from which Islamic theories of transboundary aquifer governance might be derived. The object of this research is to offer a new perspective on the management of groundwater resources such as transboundary aquifers in the Middle East and North Africa region – and other Muslim-majority countries – that builds upon the congruence between a rich heritage of Islamic law and principles on the management of water and water resources and more recent international law and standards embodying the principle of the human right to water. This perspective is intended to align with the desire of many Muslim-majority States to utilise Shari’a and Islamic tradition as grounding principles upon which all domestic law must be predicated.

In identifying possible elements, the research explores Islamic legal teaching and reasoning on water and the nascent Islamic environmentalism scholarship that is emerging in MENA, including how that scholarship is utilising the key Islamic principles of Tawhid, Amanah and Khilâfa to underpin developing theories of Islamic Environmentalism. This research adds two distinct new elements to this literature; exploring the utility of the Qur’anic principle of the ummah as a means of fostering transboundary cooperation between Muslim-majority States negotiating agreements over water resources, and applying the broader scholarship on Islamic Environmentalism to the specifics of transboundary aquifers. An additional new perspective is introduced by examining the development of Islamic Finance institutions and Law as a comparison to illustrate the possibility of organic, practitioner-led processes to institutionalise Shari’a based law and practice in the management and governance of resources both domestically and internationally.