Islamic Ecological Ethics and Sustainable Values from Tauhid to Eco Justice in the Javanese Singir Safinah

Abstract

In many parts of Indonesia, Singir Safinah is a widely used Javanese didactic poem employed as an instructional text within pesantren (Islamic boarding schools). Despite its broad pedagogical application, no systematic scholarly investigation has examined its relationship to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study addresses that gap through a qualitative thematic-comparative analysis of the text, employing inductive coding of its verses to uncover spiritual, social, and ecological values. Coded content was subsequently mapped against ESD principles and selected SDG indicators. Four principal value clusters were identified: (1) tauhid (the oneness of God) as the epistemological and ethical foundation of a sustainable educational ecosystem; (2) social ethics encompassing honesty, modesty, and adab—as a framework for character formation and relational integrity; (3) ecological and hygiene literacy embedded in purification prescriptions; and (4) adaptive resource management and eco-justice principles articulated through ritual jurisprudence. These clusters substantively align with SDGs 3, 4, 6, 12, 15, and 16. The findings demonstrate that vernacular Islamic poetry can function as an endogenous, culturally embedded vehicle for ESD, offering a resource-bridge between local pesantren tradition and global sustainability frameworks. This study contributes to repositioning classical Islamic literary heritage as a legitimate site of sustainability pedagogy.