The Structure of Islamic Ethics: A New Approach

Abstract

Muslim scholars have viewed the subject of ethics from different perspectives and have addressed different and sometimes scattered propositions in this regard; They are different in how they have entered into and concluded the issue, and are particularly different in their views with regards to the sole dependence on intellect or tradition or both. They have seldom tried to formulate a definite moral system or structure, or at least, they have not taken it into consideration independently, therefore they have not particularly specified a "moral system". No doubt, if the collection of what they have written about "ethics" is viewed with the aim of defining a "moral system" and explaining the meaning and purpose of its "structure", a particular "moral system and its structure" can be extracted, which is not very easy. Some contemporary writers and scholars have taken into consideration the issue of "the moral system and its structure" independently, and highlighted its conditions and presuppositions - which is very admirable, however, the present paper provides a new view about the structure of Islamic ethics which does not hold precedence in previous books of Islamic Ethics.

Keywords

• the structure of islamic ethics
• moral goal
• moral act
• moral agent
• the domain of moralities
• divine encounter