Qurānic Conceptual Framework of Ethics

Abstract

Any discussion of an ethical framework and/or dimension of a specific religious way of living such as Islam invariably draws attention to the notion of what constitutes human well-being: a good life, appropriate conduct and defensible social relationships. More specifically, there are several approaches to ‘religious ethics’. These include: a formalist approach, which delineates the place and import of religion for the moral life; a sociolinguistic approach, which explores specific actions that guide communities’ ways of life through ritual myth, discourse and belief; and an ethical-naturalist approach, which is concerned with a holistic treatment of moral propositions (Schweiker, 2005: 2). Then there is a hermeneutical-multidimensional approach—our approach—which concerns itself with ethical and critical thinking necessary to examine a specific tradition, such as one being associated with Islam. Our application of a hermeneutical-multidimensional approach to religious ethics has a two-pronged strategy: first, we connect explications of various ethical concepts as enunciated through Muslim education, to justifications informed by philosophical understandings, particularly the interpretive or hermeneutic dimension of human agency. Second, we relate our explications to Qurānic pronouncements.