Islamic stewardship of the earth — khalifa

The Quranic concept of khalifa — stewardship, vicegerency — places the human being not as master of the earth but as trustee, accountable to God for what has been given into their care. This is not a minor theological footnote; it is a complete ecological ethic that has been waiting, for centuries, to be taken as seriously as it was written. Nasreddin, who lived in this tradition, understood that you could not damage what was entrusted to you without answering for it eventually — if not to the court, then to the land itself.