Mini Project : Islamic Ethics1

Question 1 (i)The technical meaning of Akhlaq of Islam and Ethics and Moral of the Western secularised society.Akhlaq is an Arabic term that laterally translated into English word as ethics. The root from which it derives its meaning means to create, to shape, to produce or to give form (Balabaki, 1990: 521). While, the term of akhlaq is the plural of khulq that can be simply defined as character, nature and disposition. Akhlaq from Islamic point of view is quietly different from western perspective. In Islam, the word of akhlaq has a very close related with khaliq (the Creator) and His Creature. It is because under the Islamic ethics, akhlaq assumes a good relationship between God and His Creature likes animals, plants, other human beings and many more. Furthermore, akhlaq of Islam technically means a good character or good human behaviour as taught by the Quran and Sunnah. According to Al-Farabi, who was to be known as the earliest great Muslim philosopher acknowledged the relationship of akhlaq or the state of the soul with the human action. Apart from that, besides Al-Farabi, Ibn Miskawayh (d. 1030) in his work of Tahzib al-Akhlaq defined akhlaq as a state of the soul which causes it to perform its action without thought or deliberation. Thus, the meaning of akhlaq as the science of the human soul was further elaborated by successive writers and philosophers on Islamic ethics such as Al-Ghazali (d. 1111), Fakhruddin al-Razi (d. 1209), al-Dawani (d.1502) and others. Overall, they defines the characteristics and qualities of the soul as well as the method of how to control and moderate them (Adibah Abdul Rahim, 2013).

Conceptually, there are included two meanings of akhlaq which are akhlaq (ethics) means the science (ilm) that deals with the standard of right and wrong of human conduct, particularly what humans out to do. Ethics as science is deal with the study of the ethical conduct and behaviour and in this case, the word of ethics can simply means the human effort od studying moral standards and conducts in order to ensure that man have possesses of the right understanding of moral behaviour. While, the second meaning of akhlaq derived the meaning of good character or good human behaviour (al-akhlaq al-fadilah). This meaning can be understand in the concept of human character that prescribes in order to refrain themselves from doing the immoral actions such as stealing, murder, lying, rape and others besides enjoins the good conducts such as sincerity, loyalty and honesty. All of these are universal standards of right and wrong that prescribe by human conduct as taught by the Quran and demonstrated in the exemplary life (actions and words) of the Prophet (s.a.w). In this sense, akhlaq is included all actions that are prescribes as amal salih (virtuous deeds) in the terminology of the Quran (Adibah Abdul Rahim, 2013).From the ethical point of view, Islam takes into account about the capacity that people have because Allah s.w.t has knowledge of the weaknesses and strengths of mankind. In the eyes of Islam, human being are created with both the need of body and spiritual soul (Al-Ghazali, 2001). In addition, for Muslims what is right and wrong clearly espoused through the Quran and Sunnah. Based on these two important foundations, Muslim believe that a conduct is right because Allah s.w.t or His Prophet Muhammad s.a.w has commanded it. Muslims believe and accept the Allahs commandment of what is right and wrong because Allah s.w.t knows everything, including what is the best for the people (Mohammed, 2005).

In other side, the term of ethics and moral will emphasize more on Western secularised society based on the seculars view or concept. Based on an analysis of The Concept of Islamic Work Ethics by Prof. Dr. Shukri Ahmad (2012), he make the further explaination about the concept of ethics in both perspective, Islamic and Western view. According to western sociologists, the word of ethics is relatively dependent on individual perspective in order to determine good or bad. As such, Ogbonna and Ebimobowei (2011) highlights that ethics is reflected in the principle that a person uses in governing his/her actions and the personal standard by which a person distinguishes the right from the wrong. Generally, the words ethics and morals are frequently used interchangeably. Ethics refer to behaviour customary in our culture or society. Ethics may change as a person moves from one society to the next. While, morals refer to personal standards of right and wrong. Morals do not change as a person moves from one society to the next. Nwagboso (2008) believes that ethics is in confusion and ferment among all people and ethics also is not about what person is or what person was, or even about what person will be but ethics is about what ought and have to be. Because of that, he thinks that ethics is the standard by which person should judge action or character. On the other hand, Hayes, Schilder, Dassen and Wallage (1999) define ethics as a set of moral principles, rules or conduct or values and ethics is relevant when a person has to make a decision from different choices concerning ethical principles. Secular ethics can never be quiet about religion. It must place the burden of proof squarely on the shoulders of people who believe unsupportable truth claims based on the authority of faith. These people may belong to any religious group and they exist in every corner of the corner less world.

Question 1 (ii)Comparison and Similarities.There are have differences in term of meaning of akhlaq from Islamic point of view and western perspective. To be more clarify, these differences can be evaluate from some aspects like foundations, origins, personal responsibility and many more. Under the similarity, both of western and islamic viewpoint were emphasize the concept of ethics in life. The people are teaches to enjoin what is good and forbid what is wrong like to be honest and be a good person. But the western concept and understanding of ethics are incomplete in explaining what is right and what is wrong. In contrast, Islam has a comprehensive perspective regarding the ethical issues because Allah s.w.t as the Lawgiver for all systems, including the ethical system. Ethics in Islam are defined as the good principles and values based on the Islamic sources, entirely on the divine scriptures and the example of the life of the Prophet Muhammad. In Islam, the source of ethics is its religious institution, transmitting a divine revelation to the mankind. In other word, the Quran and Sunnah automatically become the source of akhlaq in Islam. To begin with as stated in Quran, belief in Allah (s.w.t), continuation of good deeds like humility are the foundation of good morals. For instant, in chapter 4 of the Quran, verse 125, the Quran states that the best person is the person who upholds these moral foundations and invites others to practice these values.Who can be better in religion than one who submits his whole self to Allah, does good, and follows the way of Abraham the true in Faith? For Allah did take Abraham for a friend. [The Quran, 4 : 125]Besides that, akhlaq (ethics) in Islam is founded on the worldview than man is holds the responsibility of being vicegerent (khalifah) on the earth. In this understanding, man existed as a result of the divine-plan of Allah in order to manage and improve live on the earth according to the divine law of Allah. Apart from that, Allah has empowered man with the qualities of intellect and knowledge which raise man into a unique position than the other creatures of Allah. Thus, based on this understanding, human conducts are ethical only when they (conducts) contribute to the improvement of life and in line with divine teachings of Allah (s.w.t). This makes Islamic ethical system is divine, universal, transcendental and principle guided (Abdulrezak, 2011). Furthermore, In Islam, the source of morality transcends human desires and culture. The factor that make ethics in Islam vary from western ethics in which ethical conducts are characterized as bad or good based on their utilitarian outcome and gains.Other than that, akhlaq (ethics) in Islam are judged based on the intention of the individual and in accordance with the divine texts (nusus al-shariah) whether that conducts is ethical or not. Besides, Islam teaches that the fate of each person in the Hereafter is the direct result of ones own choices. The Muslim peoples cannot deny it since the Islamic ethical system is directly related to the teachings of the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad.Thus, one of the most important element in Ethics of Islam is personal responsibility. In Islam, every single person have been taught to follow his own path to God because there are no intermediaries between man and God. There is no coercion to follow the path to God. Islam is completely teaches about the moral, ethical choice that each man must make in his heart and following through with this choice compared secular ethics, they claim that they do good for the sake of doing good.While, the ethics and moral of the western secularised society, secular ethics is a branch of moral philosophy in which ethics is based solely on human faculties such as logic, reason or moral intuition and their ethics is simply not derived from revelation or guidance like the source of ethics of Islam. Other than that, theories such as relativism, utilitarianism, egoism, deontology, and the virtue ethics are all the products of Western understanding of what ethics are and how they are applicable to help ones desicion-making process. Every theory has a single viewpoint with regard to ethical issues like action, character, religion or culture (Faridahwati, 2013).Other than that, despite the diversity of their philosophical views, secular ethicists generally share some of the principle like through their ability to empathize, the human beings are capable of determining athical grounds, through logic and reason, human beings are capable of deriving normative principles of behavior. Others, human beings have the moral responsibilities in order to ensure that societies and individuals act based on these ethical principles and societies should advance from a less ethical and just form to a more ethical or just form.Furthermore, there are have certain condition that must be fulfill in humans conduct to be ethical in Islam such as his intention must be good and his action must be according to what God has instructed. If either is corrupt, his behaviour is unlikely to meet ethical standards. For instance, if a wrong deed was done with good intentions and produced a good outcome, it cannot be termed ethical. If the intentions were wrong in the beginning and the outcome was accidentally good, there is no question of ethical behaviour. Good intentions and good deeds must go hand in hand.

Question 2 (i)Methodology in Western secularised ethics.Basically, the field of ethics is broken down into two different ways of thinking about ethics which are common like descriptive and normative. In both western and Islamic ethics, there are involved several methods in order to determine the moral conduct among the human being. Frederick (1983), who is the one of Southern Methodist University has presented the methodology by focusing upon some salient features of Islamic ethics that lend themselves congenially to compare with Western thought and practice. This methodology purposely to distinguish so far as possible its obligation, virtue and value components, to observe the ways in which these components are related to each other and to seek an understanding of the manner in which religious beliefs infuse or shape the content of these components individually and jointly. Basically, such a methodology is designed to facilitate the understanding of the materials that constitute any religious ethics to which it is applied. According the further explaination by other sociologists, even though ethics is defined as what is right and wrong, the most pressing issue is how is one to know the right from the wrong (Velasquez, 2006). Some of the ethical theories such as relativism, utilitarianism, egoism, deontology, the divine command theory and the virtue ethics are all the products of Western understanding of what ethics are and how they are applicable to help ones desicion-making process. Talk about methodology, western secularised ethics basically based on the human faculties like reason, logic or moral intuition in order to conduct the action. But, there are have several of them who also believe the scientific reasoning that can reveal moral truth compared belief on supernatural revelation or guidance since they assume that secular societies already have developed responsible ethical norms. In addition, the secular ethicists generally advocated some principles like human being can capable in determine the ethical grounds through their ability to empathize, they can capable in derive the normative principles of behaviour through logic and reason and human beings have the moral responsibility to ensure that societies and individuals act based on these ethical principles. As human nature, our knowledge about what is right and wrong basically is based on our understanding to perform the action, rather than stemming from a transcendental or arbitrarily local source, therefore neglect the faith completely as a basis for action.Other than that, the virtue of ethics can be included in order to defines what is right and wrong based on the specific traits and values that every person must follow. Virtue ethics is emphasizes the role of ones character embodies for determining or evaluating ethical behaviour. Basically, virtue ethics is on of the three major approaches to normative ethics. According Faridahwati (2013), the purpose of an ethical life is to develop general characters called ethical virtues and to apply and exhibit them in reality.Virtue ethics is mostly emphasizes on the question of what people should be rather than of what they should do. In other words, this theory focuses more on what makes a good individual or person rather than what makes a good action (Lavan et al. 2008). According to Aristotle, who is the most representative supporter of virtue ethics methods, was proposed the several virtue traits that every person must have such as courage, generosity, loyalty, civility, friendliness, justice, self-control, self-confidence, cooperativeness, honesty, fairness, tolerance and modesty (Rachels et al. 1993).Then, one of the product of this virtue ethics commonly may guide to conflict with the requirements of the occounting profession for being independent (Duska et al. 2003; Koehn, 2005). Even though there are some criticisms in the application of virtue ethics, it still plays a significant role in accounting practices. Question 2 (ii)Differences and similarities between the methodology of the Western secularised ethics and al-akhlaq al-Islamiyyah.Islam is very clear in everything related to this world. Islam provides guidance for Muslims in every situations (Al-Ghazali, 2001). Ethics from an Islamic viewpoint are not simply religious morality reflected in the performance of some practices like praying or not consuming alcohol. But ethics in Islam is cover all aspects of life, in physically, morally and spiritually while in the western view, they only cover on intellectually, emotionally, individually and collectively (Al-Banna 1940; Al-Qaradawi 1996; Yaken 2006).To emphasize the scope of methodologies of the al-akhlaq al-islamiyyah, Al-Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) are the two primary sources of Islamic ethics. As such, Al-Quran is the most significant source that given by God for the mankind 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. For instance, human being can understanding the ethics in the scope of Prophet tradition since it describes as the scriptural morality (Adibah, 2013).In addition, ethics is related to faith (iman). Muslims have followed what Allah s.w.t asks Muslims to do due to result of Iman as the religious feelings. Thus, Iman is the power that improves and protects ethics (Al-Qaradawi 1994; Mawdudi 1977; Yaken 2006) and Iman is not acceptable in the eyes of Islam without connecting it with good deeds (Al-Ghazali, 2001). It is mean that strong faith generates a good character and weak faith results in a collapse of morality. Furthermore, compare to the methodology of Western ethics, ethics can be defined as the good values based on the Islamic sources. Islam encouraged that every person must behave according to specific ethical characteristics, in the line of the sources of these characteristics in Quran and Sunnah (Prophet Muhammads saying, practice and approvals) (Mohammed 2005). For instance, in the al-Quran, it associates good morality with fair and compassionate behaviour towards parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours, while arrogance and vainglory have no place in the Islamic morality.Serve Allah, and join not any partners with Him; and do good- to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are near, neighbours who are stranger, the companion by your side, the wayfarer and what your right hands possess: For Allah loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious. [The Quran, 4:36]

Besides that, compared the Western understanding of ethics, the ethical values are relative to a particular environment or location. The moral values can be different from one culture to another, from one time to another (Sturgeon, 2009). In addition, there no moral principles that are completely right, relevant and applicable to the people of all countries. As such, there is no standard or principle that can be used to evaluate one societal code better than the other since the different countries and societies may have different ethical codes and there is no universal truth in moral/ethical principles that can be held for all peoples at all times (Rachels, 1993). In contrast, Islamic teaching demonstrates that what is right and what is wrong cannot be left to a particular society because of the weaknesses of all human being. So, sometimes they tend to behave in a manner that they see is convenient even though the action is right or wrong. This is why as a Muslim, they have to base their actions on the words of Allah (the Quran) and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (Al-Qaradawi, 1985; Mohammed, 2005).

However, Islam is not totally reject what comes from Western believe or understanding but tendency to respect the culture of any society as long as it is not against what is Islamically prescribed, like Quran said; take to forgiveness and enjoin good and turn aside from the ignorant. [Al-Quran 7:199]. For example, in the of the Prophet Muhammad, he recognizes acts such as telling the truth as morally right and rejects other acts such as killing a newborn girl as being morally wrong.

ReferencesAdibah, A.R. (2013, November). Understanding Islamic Ethics and Its Significance on the Character Building. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 3 (6).Al-Hassan, A., & Faridahwati, M.S., & Kamil, M.D. (2013, December). Ethics and Ethical Theories from an Islamic Perspective. International Journal of Islamic Thought. (volume 4).Carney, F.S. (1983, April). Some Aspect of Islamic Ethics. The Journal of Religion. Vol 63, (2).Jamal, B. (2010). Moral Teachings of Islam: Foundations of Islamic Ethics. Retrieved April 3, 2015 from http://jamalbadawi.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=84:62-moral-teachings-of-islam-foundations-of-islamic-ethics&catid=18:volume-6-moral-teachings-of-islam.