UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 talks about responsible consumption and production. FAO reports that one-third of the food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which amounts to about 1.3 billion tonnes per year.
Human behaviour, consumption and business activities have been identified as the main cause of the climate crisis the earth is facing at present, having seriously detrimental effects on the earth’s bio capacity to sustain life. These effects, referred to as anthropogenic impacts, are causing degradation of the globally shared public resource known as natural capital.
Fasting in the full-month of Ramadan every year teaches restraint by experiencing it. It brings humility, discipline, restraint, self-control and social consciousness about issues of hunger and deprivation. It is more powerful to share a state of being for the whole month in restraint than an hour of lighting out. It encourages solidarity and pro-social behaviour.
This article looks at some of the descriptive and prescriptive teachings of Al-Quran and Sunnah (Ways of Prophet Muhammad [pbuh]) on consumption and spending behaviour.
Islamic Economics Project 