Toward an Original Theory of Islamic Environmental Constitutionalism for Nigeria: Fiqh, Rights and Ecological Justice

Environmental constitutionalism, the entrenchment of environmental rights and obligations in constitutional frameworks, has developed significantly in secular legal theory but lacks a theoretically developed Islamic counterpart that integrates Fiqh ecological principles with rights-based constitutional design. This study develops an original theory of Islamic Environmental Constitutionalism for the Nigerian context, where northern state Sharia legal frameworks coexist with federal environmental legislation and an unenforced constitutional environmental provision. The theoretical development synthesises three bodies of scholarship: classical Islamic Fiqh on ecological stewardship (Khilafa, Hima, La Darar), contemporary Islamic environmental jurisprudence from scholars including Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Mawil Izzi Dien, and comparative constitutional environmental rights theory from South Africa, Colombia, and India. Through systematic analysis of the Sharia environmental provisions of Kano, Niger, and Borno States, the 1999 constitutional environmental framework, and thirty-five environmental enforcement decisions from northern Nigerian courts from 2010 to 2023, the study identifies the structural gaps that an Islamic environmental constitutionalism theory must address. The original theoretical contribution includes three new doctrinal concepts: Fiqh al-Biah al-Dusturiyya (Islamic environmental constitutionalism), the Karama al-Ard (dignity of the earth) principle, and the concept of Hujjiyya al-Biah (environmental legal standing). These concepts together provide a theoretically grounded Sharia-based environmental rights framework for northern Nigerian legal development. Keywords: Islamic environmental law, constitutionalism, Nigeria, ecological justice, Fiqh al-Biah.