INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)  
ISSN No. 2454-6186 | DOI: 10.47772/IJRISS | Volume IX Issue XI November 2025  
Integrating Islamic Legal Maxims into Environmental Sustainability  
Governance of the Hajj: A Conceptual Policy Analysis  
1Azli Fairuz*, 2Siti Nor Fazillah Abdullah, 3Khiral Anuar Daud, 4Ahmad Farid Ibrahim  
1,3,4Faculty of Islamic Contemporary Studies, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia  
2Faculty of Applied Social Sciences, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia  
*Corresponding Author  
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.91100267  
Received: 22 November 2025; Accepted: 30 November 2025; Published: 07 December 2025  
ABSTRACT  
Background: Environmental sustainability in mass religious gatherings has emerged as a critical global concern  
due to escalating carbon emissions, waste generation, water stress, and ecosystem degradation. The Hajj  
pilgrimage represents one of the largest annual faith-based mass gatherings, exerting unprecedented pressure on  
the fragile sacred ecosystem of Makkah and its surrounding holy sites. Methods: This study employs a qualitative  
document analysis and policy analysis approach using classical Islamic legal texts, sustainability governance  
literature, and official Green Hajj policy documents issued by the Saudi authorities. Results: The findings  
demonstrate that major Islamic legal maxims, particularly al-ḍarar yuzāl (harm must be eliminated), al-  
mashaqqah tajlib al-taysīr (hardship begets facilitation), taṣarruf al-imām manūṭ bi al-maṣlaḥah (public authority  
is bound by public interest), and al-ʿādah muḥakkamah (custom is authoritative), are explicitly embedded within  
contemporary Hajj sustainability governance mechanisms. Implications: The integration of faith-based legal  
maxims into environmental governance enhances regulatory compliance, ethical internalisation, and long-term  
ecological resilience in sacred mass gatherings. Conclusions: Islamic legal maxims provide a robust normative–  
operational framework for environmental sustainability governance that is transferable beyond the Hajj context  
to other large-scale religious and cultural events.  
Keywords: environmental sustainability; Green Hajj; Islamic legal maxims; faith-based environmental  
governance; mass gatherings; Saudi Vision 2030.  
INTRODUCTION  
Environmental sustainability has become one of the most significant governance challenges in the twenty-first  
century, particularly in the context of large-scale human mobility and mass gatherings [1]. Mega-events generate  
substantial ecological footprints through intensive energy consumption, excessive waste generation, pressure on  
water resources and carbon emissions [2]. The Hajj pilgrimage, mobilising over two million pilgrims into a  
geographically constrained sacred ecosystem, is one of the largest annually recurring faith-based mass events  
[3].  
The ecological stress associated with the Hajj includes solid-waste accumulation, high water demand, air  
pollution from intensive transportation, land degradation and energy-intensive infrastructure development [4].  
While technological and regulatory interventions have been progressively introduced under Saudi Arabia’s  
Green Hajj initiatives and Vision 2030 sustainability agenda [5], the ethical–normative foundations of  
environmental governance in Islamic sacred spaces remain insufficiently explored [6].  
Previous studies have primarily approached Hajj sustainability from managerial, logistical and technological  
perspectives, with limited integration of Islamic jurisprudential principles as an environmental governance  
framework [7]. Although maqāṣid al-sharīʿah (higher objectives of Sharīʿah) has increasingly been discussed as  
a foundation for environmental ethics [8], fewer studies have examined the operational role of qawāʿid fiqhiyyah  
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)  
ISSN No. 2454-6186 | DOI: 10.47772/IJRISS | Volume IX Issue XI November 2025  
(Islamic legal maxims) as regulatory instruments that directly inform policy design, enforcement mechanisms  
and behavioural governance [9].  
This study seeks to fill this gap by analysing how selected Islamic legal maxims function as an implicit and  
explicit governance architecture within contemporary Hajj sustainability policies [10]. It argues that Islamic  
legal maxims provide a dynamic, context-sensitive and operational framework that enhances compliance,  
legitimises state intervention and sustains ecological protection in sacred environments [11].  
The objectives of this study are:  
To conceptualise Islamic legal maxims as a normative–operational framework for environmental sustainability  
governance.  
To analyse the incorporation of selected legal maxims into contemporary Green Hajj policies.  
To assess the implications of faith-based environmental governance for global sustainability discourse on mass  
gatherings.  
Environmental Sustainability Governance And Faith-Based Environmentalism  
Environmental sustainability governance refers to the institutional arrangements, regulatory instruments and  
normative frameworks that guide human–environment interactions to ensure ecological integrity, social equity  
and intergenerational justice [1]. In the context of mass gatherings, sustainability governance encompasses  
waste-management systems, energy-efficiency measures, water-conservation strategies, transportation planning,  
crowd-control mechanisms and environmental-impact monitoring [12].  
Conventional sustainability governance is predominantly rooted in secular regulatory traditions and technocratic  
models [13]. However, recent scholarship increasingly recognises the role of faith-based environmentalism as a  
complementary governance mechanism that enhances moral accountability, behavioural compliance and  
communal responsibility [14]. Religious worldviews shape environmental attitudes, ethical commitments and  
collective action in ways that formal regulation alone cannot always achieve [13].  
In Islamic epistemology, environmental stewardship is grounded in the concepts of khilāfah (vicegerency) and  
amānah (trust), alongside the prohibition of fasād (ecological corruption) [15]. These principles establish a moral  
ecology that situates environmental protection not merely as a regulatory obligation but as a spiritual and ethical  
responsibility.  
Translating these high ethical ideals into operational governance requires an intermediate jurisprudential  
mechanism. Islamic legal maxims serve as this bridge, providing flexible legal principles that govern complex  
socio-environmental realities [16]. For example, the ethical trust of amānah to protect God’s creation is  
operationally enforced through the legal obligation to eliminate harm captured in the maxim al-ḍarar yuzāl [17].  
METHODOLOGY  
This study adopts a qualitative research design based on document analysis and normative policy analysis [18].  
Data Sources  
The primary data sources include:  
Classical and contemporary works on Islamic legal maxims (qawāʿid fiqhiyyah) [19].  
Official Saudi policy documents on Hajj management, environmental sustainability and Vision 2030 [10].  
Peer-reviewed academic literature on environmental sustainability, faith-based governance and mass-gathering  
management [20].  
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)  
ISSN No. 2454-6186 | DOI: 10.47772/IJRISS | Volume IX Issue XI November 2025  
Analytical Framework  
Two analytical layers are applied:  
Normative legal analysis: Identification of core legal maxims with direct relevance to environmental governance  
[21]. The four selected maxims—al-ḍarar yuzāl, al-mashaqqah tajlib al-taysīr, taṣarruf al-imām manūṭ bi al-  
maṣlaḥah, and al-ʿādah muḥakkamah—represent the four essential categories of governance action required for  
sustainability: mitigation, adaptation/flexibility, authoritative enforcement and cultural/behavioural change.  
Policy mapping: Examination of Green Hajj sustainability measures against the normative functions of these  
legal maxims [22].  
Data Analysis  
Documents are analysed thematically using a deductive–inductive coding strategy [23]. Legal maxims function  
as theoretical codes, while sustainability policies constitute empirical governance units; cross-mapping is used  
to identify normative–policy convergence [24].  
Islamic Legal Maxims As Instruments Of Environmental Sustainability Governance  
Islamic legal maxims (qawāʿid fiqhiyyah) function as overarching jurisprudential principles that regulate  
complex socio-environmental realities [25]. In the governance of environmentally sensitive mass gatherings such  
as the Hajj, these maxims serve as normative instruments that legitimise regulatory intervention, guide policy  
formulation and shape public behaviour [16].  
Al-Ḍarar Yuzāl (Harm Must Be Eliminated)  
The maxim al-ḍarar yuzāl constitutes a foundational principle for mitigating environmental harm [26]. Within  
the Hajj ecosystem, environmental harm manifests through excessive waste generation, air pollution, water  
contamination and heat stress [27]. Contemporary Green Hajj initiatives operationalise this maxim through large-  
scale waste-management infrastructure, recycling programmes and strict environmental sanitation enforcement  
[5]. The prohibition of environmentally destructive activities within the Haramain further reflects the juridical  
extension of this maxim into ecological protection [15]. From a sustainability-governance perspective, this  
principle aligns with the precautionary principle in contemporary environmental law [23].  
Al-Mashaqqah Tajlib al-Taysīr (Hardship Begets Facilitation)  
Extreme climatic and spatial conditions generate significant hardship during the Hajj [28]. The maxim al-  
mashaqqah tajlib al-taysīr underpins regulatory facilitation through the deployment of climate-controlled  
transport systems, such as the electric Mashaʾer Railway, shaded pedestrian networks and automated crowd-  
management mechanisms [5]. These interventions enhance human safety while optimising resource efficiency.  
This maxim resonates with adaptive-governance theory, which emphasises institutional flexibility and  
technological innovation in response to environmental uncertainty [29].  
Taṣarruf al-Imām Manūṭ bi al-Maṣlaḥah (Public Authority Is Bound by Public Interest)  
This maxim establishes the legitimacy of authoritative state intervention in environmental matters [30]. Saudi  
Arabia’s governance of the Hajj under Vision 2030—including pilgrim quotas to manage density, movement  
regulation, strict waste control and environmental surveillance—reflects this principle in practice [10]. This  
authoritative regulation is justified by the overarching requirement to protect the collective well-being (al-  
maṣlaḥah al-ʿāmmah), aligning with the notion of environmental public goods that require collective protection  
[18].  
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)  
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Al-ʿĀdah Muḥakkamah (Custom as a Regulatory Norm)  
Sustainability governance requires behavioural internalisation [13]. The institutionalisation of reusable  
containers, biodegradable packaging and the encouragement of low-carbon transportation (e.g., walking or  
electric buses) reflect the recognition of environmentally responsible custom as a normative source of regulation  
[4]. Awareness programmes such as “Innahā Ṭāhirah” (“It is Pure”) institutionalise pro-environmental behaviour  
through education and digital engagement [31]. This behavioural transformation is crucial for long-term  
ecological resilience [32].  
Contemporary Green Hajj Policies As Normative–Operational Governance  
Green Hajj initiatives operate within Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 sustainability framework, integrating waste  
management, water conservation, energy efficiency and low-emission transportation systems [33]. This policy  
framework demonstrates clear and operational alignment with Islamic legal maxims:  
al-ḍarar yuzāl → pollution control and waste reduction, seen for example in the development of large waste-  
transfer and recycling facilities in the Holy Sites [34];  
al-mashaqqah tajlib al-taysīr → technological facilitation through the expansion of the Mashaʾer Railway and  
the installation of cooling misting systems to mitigate heat stress [35];  
taṣarruf al-imām manūṭ bi al-maṣlaḥah → authoritative regulation, evidenced by strictly enforced pilgrim-quota  
systems, Hajj permits and scheduled movement to prevent environmental and human congestion [10];  
al-ʿādah muḥakkamah → behavioural normalisation promoted by initiatives such as the transition to electric  
buses and the institutionalisation of environmental ethics through the “Innahā Ṭāhirah” campaign [36].  
DISCUSSION  
This study advances the concept of faith-based environmental governance as an operational paradigm within  
sustainability science [37]. Islamic legal maxims are shown to parallel precautionary governance, adaptive  
management, authoritative regulation and behavioural-governance models discussed in contemporary  
sustainability literature [38].  
The Hajj represents a unique laboratory for sustainability governance, offering valuable insights for managing  
ecological risk under extreme crowd density and spatial constraints [39]. Integrating these legal–ethical  
frameworks into sustainability governance enhances legitimacy, compliance and long-term effectiveness [40].  
It is argued that the maxims provide the conceptual architecture for key regulatory actions in mass-gathering  
sustainability: mitigation (al-ḍarar yuzāl), adaptation (al-mashaqqah tajlib al-taysīr), enforcement (taṣarruf al-  
imām manūṭ bi al-maṣlaḥah), and cultural change (al-ʿādah muḥakkamah).  
Nevertheless, this study remains conceptual and policy-analytical. Future empirical research is required to  
assess:  
behavioural compliance—whether pilgrims exposed to normative, faith-based messages show higher  
compliance with environmental policies than those receiving purely secular regulatory messages; and  
enforcement effectiveness—the measurable environmental outcomes, such as reductions in per-capita waste  
generation, attributable to the faith-based governance model.  
CONCLUSIONS  
Islamic legal maxims constitute a coherent normative–operational framework for environmental sustainability  
governance in the Hajj. Through principles of harm elimination, hardship facilitation, public-interest regulation  
and custom-based behavioural governance, these maxims complement scientific and administrative  
sustainability mechanisms [9].  
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)  
ISSN No. 2454-6186 | DOI: 10.47772/IJRISS | Volume IX Issue XI November 2025  
The study contributes theoretically to Islamic environmental jurisprudence and to sustainability-governance  
literature by demonstrating the operational relevance of faith-based legal norms [8]. Policymakers are strongly  
encouraged to integrate religious normative frameworks into sustainability strategies for sacred environments  
and mass gatherings globally [41].  
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