ISLAMIC ETHICS

Abstract

Islamic ethics as a discipline or a subject does not exist at the present.We do not have works that define its concept, outline its issues, and discussits problems. What we have, instead, is a discussion by various writers-philosophers,theologians, jurisprudents, sufis and political and economictheorists- in their particular fields of some issues that are either part of,or relevant to, Islamic ethics. Philosophers like Abu Nasr al Farabi (d. 329/950)and Abu 'Ali Miskawayh (d. 421/1030), in their ethical works, have mostlyrehashed Greek ethics. True, they have introduced, here and there, someIslamic terms and concepts and modified some notions that hurt their Islamicsusceptibilities. But this does not make their ethics Islamic. They do notraise many issues that Islamic ethics must raise, and many ideas they haveset forth cannot be considered to be Islamic unless they are seriously modified.Theologians have, indeed, discussed some very important questions ofIslamic ethics, such as the source of ethical knowledge. the meaning of ethicalterms, and the basis of moral obligation. The views they have expoundedare extremely significant. But they have been treated as part of theology ratherthan ethics, and they form only one aspect of Islanlic ethics. Works on sufism.principles of jurisprudence (usul al fiqh), principles of government and administration(al ahkam al sultaniyah), and public revenue and expenditure(al khara;), also touch upon ideas that are part of, or relevant to, Islamicethics. We have in them an analysis, for instance, of some ethical virtues,a discussion on motives, priorities and preferences, levels of obligation, andpolitical and economic justice.There is, in short, much material scattered in the works of variousdisciplines that can be utilized to develop Islamic ethics. At present, whilethe discipline of Islamic ethics does not exist, it can be developed. Thirtyyears ago, Islamic economics did not exist, but thanks to the devotion ofa number of scholars, we now have Islamic economics. I am sure that Islamicethjcs will take even less time to develop, provided we give it the requiredeffort. Let us hope this conference of ours initiates the process.In this paper, I will try first to define the task Islamjc ethics should perform,and then review, in that light, various streams of writings to whichI have referred, and see what contribution each of these can make to the subject ...