Ethics In Islam

The seminar on "Ethics in Islam" was held in Faridabad, Haryana, onJuly 30-31 1988, sponsored by the Institute of Objective Studies, New Delhiand the Department of Philosophy at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh,India. Mr. Muqimuddin, the seminar organizer, opened the proceedings byremarking at the outset that the seminar's theme was of prime importancein the context of the present world. Justifying any aspect of Islamic Ethicsis both tricky and difficult. According to him, ethics has developed in theWest in the form of philosophical theories but classical philosophers did notgive much attention to the theoretical aspects of Islamic Ethics and virtuallyno effort has been made toward the documentation of ethics in Islam.The keynote address, delivered by Dr. Mohammed Abdul Haq Ansarientitled "Islamic Ethics: Concept and Prospect," (presently a professor atImam Muhammad Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), revieweddifferent streams of writing in the spheres of Islamic philosophy, Sufism,theology, jurisprudence, politics, and economy, and highlighted the contributioneach has made to the subject. He asserted that in view of the material availablein these writings, Islamic scholars of our time can develop a veritable chronicleof Islamic Ethics in a period shorter than the Islamic econoll}ists have takento develop Islamic Economics. According to Prof. Ansari, there is a wellformulatedsystem of morality in the Qur'an, but there is no such theorizationin the field of ethics. He pointed out that there are several ethical problemswhich need our attention while proceeding towards theorization of IslamicEthics, e.g., determinism, freedom of will, distinction between good andevil, etc.The keynote address was followed by a lively discussion. Prof. FazlurRahman Ginnori was of the opinion that Islam has provided a complete codeof morality obliviating the need for theorizing about Islamic Ethics. Otherparticipants were of the opinion that in order to convince the world of thefeasibility of Islamic Ethics, especially because of its identification with mostaspects of science, there is a need for an ethical theory of Islam.Dr. Sanaullah Mir of Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India, reada paper on "Philosophical Justification of the Islamic Ethical Standard: theOntological and Deontological Standards." While discussing the nature of ...