BHM 4053

-ETHICS IN
ISLAM-
CHAPTER 3:
SOURCES AND NATURE OF
ISLAMIC ETHICS
by
DR. NIK SAFIAH BINTI NIK ABDULLAH
-DEFINITION OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-
IE is being defined as akhlaq (plural of khuluq) which means
character, nature, and disposition.
Khuluq (akhlaq) or character has been referred as the state of
the soul that determines human actions.
Such character could be acquired through training and practice.
To differentiate between the words character and action,
character is the internal and hidden state of the soul, while
action is its outward manifestation.
A good character hence begets good action whereas a bad
character yields bad actions.
 -CONT…-

 Al-Farabi defined IE or akhlaq as ‘a science that studies the

state of human soul’.
 Ibn Miskawayh defined akhlaq as ‘a state of the soul which
causes it to perform its actions without thought or
deliberation’.
 al-Ghazali, Fakhruddin al-Razi, al-Tusi, al-Dawani, and others
defined ethics or ilm al-akhlaq as ‘the science of the human
soul which defines the characteristics and qualities of the soul
as well as the methods of how to control and moderate them’.
 -CONT…-
 Al-Ghazali defined IE or ilm al-akhlaq as:
(i) the way to acquire the well being of the soul and to guard it
against the vices.
(ii) is a study of certain religious beliefs and of rightness or
wrongness of actions for the purpose of practice, and not for
the sake of mere knowledge.
(iii) the study of right actions towards God, family members, & society.
 Ibn Taymiyyah defined IE or ilm al-akhlaq is:
(i) a science that seeks to know which actions should be done and
(ii) which should be avoided. It is a practical science meant to be
applied.
(ii) a science which deals with the ways to maintain virtues at their
optimum level, i.e, to avoid wrongdoing and to do what is right
and desirable.
 -THE SCOPE OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-

The scope of Islamic ethics is numerous, far reaching and

comprehensive because Islamic ethics deals with the
relationship between man and God, man and his fellow men,
men and other creatures of the universe, and man with his
innermost self.

IE is founded on the worldview that man is trustee and holds

responsibility of being vicegerent (khalif). In this understanding
man existed as a result of the divine-plan of Allah (s.w.t), based
on which man is delegated to manage and improve live on earth
(ta’mir) according to the divine laws (wahy) of Allah (s.w.t).
-THE PRIMARY SOURCES OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-

(i) Al-Quran
(ii) As-Sunnah

 Al-Qur’an is the most significant source given by God for the

human being to refer to pertaining to human conduct besides
the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) as the role
model to be imitated.

 Both Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad

(p.b.u.h) are called the scriptural morality.
 -THE PRIMARY SOURCES OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-
AL-QURAN

 There are some elements in the Qur’an which can be considered as

fundamental problems of ethics, such as:
i) the nature of right and wrong;
the Qur’an uses a whole cluster of terms to denote the concept of
moral or religious goodness, such as, goodness, righteousness, equity,
justice, truth and right, known and approved, and piety.
ii) divine justice and power;
verses that enjoin justice, disapprove of the unjust, and love the
equitable and pious in which to show that God is not an unjust dealer
with His servants.
iii) freedom and responsibility.
it is used in passive voice in a morally neutral sense that would be
referred as the meaning of ‘liable to question’ such as responsible or
answerable for doing or believing that which is clearly reprehensible.
-THE OTHER SOURCES OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-

-Islamic Theology
 Theologians discussed the source of ethical knowledge, the
basis of moral obligation and the meaning of ethical terms.
 They also discussed the questions of human freedom and
responsibility, and divine justice (God must reward the
righteous
and punish the wicked acts).
 They claimed that reason does reveal things that are good, bad,
right, or wrong in the ethical sense; but there is a limit to it in
which there are things that are known to be good or bad only
through revelation.
-THE OTHER SOURCES OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-

-Islamic Philosophy
 The Muslim philosophers, such as, Abu Nasr Farabi, Abu Ali
Miskawayh, Nar al- Din Tusi, and Jalal al-Din Dawwani
concerned with the problem of goodness.
 These philosophers dealt with an investigation into the ultimate
good or good in itself, which is happiness or saadah.
 They analyzed moral in terms of virtues of the faculties of the
soul; the rational, the irascive, and the appetitive.
 The virtue of the rational was wisdom, the virtue of the irascive
was courage, the virtue of the appetitive was temperance, and
the virtue of the entire soul was justice.
-THE OTHER SOURCES OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-

-Islamic Jurisprudence
 The objective of the shariah is to secure the balanced well-
being of man as well as to fulfil man’s comprehensive needs as
a human being.
 Muslim jurists discussed about the levels of obligation, and the
factors that may upgrade or downgrade the obligation of
individual acts.
 There was also a discussion on motive and its affect on
judgments regarding actions and the recompense thereupon,
here or hereafter.
-THE OTHER SOURCES OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-

-Islamic Mysticism
 There are three categories of the Islamic mysticism writings;
(i) writings extols the ecstatic experience of union with God as
the highest goal of human endeavour, and urges that the
whole life be geared to that end.
(ii) writings asserts that it is not ecstatic union but rather, the
realization in knowledge that reality is one is the highest
goal.
(iii) writings says that the ecstatic experience of union with God
is only a stage in the spiritual pursuit (suluk) of the mystic.
 It has to be transcended, and the unbridgeable difference
between God and man has been realized.
 -THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-

 Islam gives very much emphasis on the importance of ethics and its
significance for the development of individual and society. Good
individual will produce a good society at large.
 Ethics can be considered as the basic pillar for a healthy and firm nation. A
society or nation which is devoid of ethical values would always be having
problems.
 Therefore, all scholars and philosophers agreed on the importance of ethics
in every individual and society, and considered ethics as the foundation of
every society.
 According to most scholars, the first step in promoting an ideal human
society is to advocate refined morality. Indeed, each prophet brought the
same message to urge people to uphold a good morality.
 Ethics must be counter part of other sciences, such as, law, politics,
science, economics, and others for such sciences become soulless or
insignificant if detached from ethics.
 -THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-

 As such, basic ethical principles like justice, freedom, equality, and

rights should be exist and applied in all disciplines.
 Otherwise, they would have been so many problems occurred. So,
ethics should exist in each and every field of discipline. For
example, there must be certain ethical manners that need to be
observed in economics or business in order to ensure that there will
be no practices of corruption, oppression, and any other unethical
acts.
 In modern term business ethics can be defined as written and
unwritten codes of principles and values that govern decisions and
actions within a company. It is also an ethics between employers,
employees, businessman and consumers. . It applies to all
businessman and consumers as well as to all aspects of business
conduct.
 -THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-

 In the field of politics, ethics is also important in order to ensure that there
will be no practice of cronyism, money politics especially during the
election, and hegemony of power.
 Some politicians trying to gain reputation by invalid means, such as,
creating false accusation towards other candidates and this would lead to
other implications like tension, unstable, unhealthy relationship, disunity,
and so on.
 In reality, politicians can be considered as rulers in which they have big
responsibilities to be carried out to ensure the welfare of the people under
them. If they are all observing the Islamic ethics, they would be no cases of
corruption and negligence of the inferior people.
 Political ethics, thus, refers to a code of conducts which regulates and
guides the behaviour of the ruler and the ruled as well as between the
government and citizens.
 Therefore, justice is one of the most important ethical principles in politics.
 -THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-

Islamic ethics should be incorporated in many other fields too

such as in science and technology. Nowadays, the advancement
of technology makes abundant of new inventions that
somehow contradict to the human nature.
For instance, the issue of cloning is one of the perennially
arguable issues among people. The practice of cloning, though
there might be some benefits, still there are many harmful
consequences too.
Therefore, Islamic ethics rejects cloning as it opposes to human
nature; at the same time Islamic ethics cares to prevent harms
due to this practice.
 -THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ISLAMIC ETHICS-

Islamic ethics is also applied to medicine. It refers to codes of

conduct which regulates and guides the behaviour of doctors in
dealing with each other and the patients.
Ethics and medics are related to each other as a doctor should
observe his or her own ethics in dealing with patients or in the
case of surgery.
 -CONCLUSION-
In order to ensure the happiness and goodness of life, man needs
to refer to the code of ethics to monitor his relationship with
God, with his family, with other fellow men in society, with other
creatures of the universe, and even with his inner most self.
For example, ethics provide some manners in performing ritual
obligations, such as, performing five daily prayers within
stipulated time and also the manners in reciting the Qur’an in
which ablution is necessary and the like.
It shows the beauty of Islam that everything should be done in
proper ways.
Therefore, man cannot ignore the code of ethics because
negligence of it would lead to the deviation and going astray
from the straight path of Islam.
THANK YOU