Abstract In this paper, I examine ideas on creation, nature, and the ethical self as conceptualized by the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (Brethren of Purity, fl. ca. 350–369/961–980) and al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. before 409/1018), with a particular focus on Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111). Drawing from the classical scholarship on kalām, taṣawwuf, and falsafa, I analyze texts by these ethicists who wrote on nature and the role of the human as part of their ethical understanding of the universe as a means to achieve salvation in the Hereafter. By cross-referencing the abovementioned classical scholars and their ideas, I ask how nature is conceptualized in the classical Islamic tradition as part of the divine creation and how closely it was conceived in relation to obtaining a virtuous character. Looking at these three figures who show a degree of cross-influence, indicates that these scholars wrote on creation and nature from an integrative perspective, encompassing theological, philosophical, and cosmological questions as ethical concerns. Reading these scholars presupposes that nature was not separated from other domains but rather amalgamated in a web of approaches and movements that addressed, for instance, the creation of the cosmos and its conservation based on a utilitarian perspective that was nonetheless ingrained in a metaphysical understanding of the universe. In a similar vein, this paper invites us to rethink the contemporary designations of nature/environment as a monovalent concept, encapsulated in a particular division of sciences as it appeared in modern Europe, and hence welcomes a critical take on the current debates on environmental sustainability as a common ethical concern.

Abstract This paper will try to present and discuss Said Nursi’s (d. 1960) ethics of compassion and the possibility of a new ethics of compassion derived from the Qurʾānic Weltanschauung. It will start with a slight detour in the history of philosophy to keep the evolution of an ethics of compassion in perspective. Then, it will deal with Said Nursi’s perception of compassion as he discovers mercy and compassion as universal values manifested by all creatures. For him, like al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111), Ibn ʿArabī (d. 638/1240), and Rūmī (d. 672/1273), the existence and reality of divine mercy are as clear as the sun. Therefore, the compassion observed in humans, animals, and plants reflects and indicates universal compassion: it is from God. The paper’s primary focus will be on Nursi’s treatise on flies.

Abstract Recurrent and concurrent crises call for new development paradigms, as dominant theories of economic development are not fostering equity or sustainability. We argue that part of the reason is that the conceptualization of development, and the resulting metrics driving decision-making, are narrow. Building on work that proposes adding values/ethics as a fourth pillar to development, along with economic, environmental, and social pillars, this article presents an Islamic perspective of how values-based development would differ from the dominant, contemporary forms. While rooted in a specific perspective and worldview, it has great relevance as approximately a quarter of humanity adheres to the faith. We offer a holistic, values-based approach to development, drawing on classical foundations and contemporary lessons, rooted in a different epistemic and ideological orientation. On this basis, we highlight five values that could be the foundation for re-orienting development: vicegerency, justice, excellence, tranquility, and freedom. Integrating these values in a fourth, values-based pillar of development alters the conceptualization and the metrics of development, resulting in processes driven by different objectives for individuals and societies.

Abstract Several studies have been written on the subject of animals in the Ottoman Empire, with a focus on dogs in particular. Most of these studies cover the subject through various sources, including history books, biographies, travelogues, and diaries. Although studying the issue via these sources is important, several works written in the Ottoman period, especially distinct treatises, provide more concrete information on the subject. These treatises have the unique quality of providing insight into many points, especially with relevance to the concepts on which the scholars and thinkers of the period examined the human-animal relationship, and also the arguments they advanced to establish this relationship. One such treatise was written by Mustaqīmzāde (d. 1202/1788) in the 12th/18th century. This treatise deals with many issues, especially the human-dog relationship, the characteristics dogs have, why people should be compassionate towards dogs, and the problems of having a negative attitude towards dogs. In this article, I give a brief biography of Mustaqīmzāde, summarize the changing attitude of Ottomans towards dogs, discuss the content of Mustaqīmzāde’s treatise, and finally translate it into English and present an edition of the text.

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has touched every aspect of human life and posed a myriad of ethical questions. In an attempt to equip graduate students with the necessary tools to explore the pandemic-related questions from an Islamic perspective, a summer school titled “Islamic Ethics and the Covid-19 Pandemic” was co-organized by the Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics, Qatar and the Leuven Centre for the Study of Islam and Society, Belgium from 9 to 12 August, 2020. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of topics discussed during the school and to highlight a plethora of references which may be consulted for more information on the topic.

Asmaa El Maaroufi. Ethik des Mitseins: Grundlinien einer islamisch-theologischen Tierethik. Freiburg: Verlag Karl Alber, 2021, 240 pp.In this book based on her doctoral dissertation El Maaroufi from the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität zu Münster (Germany) raises questions that are fundamental to all ethical and theological considerations: what is the nature/essence (“Wesen”) of humans? What is our destiny (“Bestimmung”)? And how are we meant to live in this world that we share with countless (unknown and unknowable) others? The overall aim of the dissertation is to question subject-object-dichotomies between humans and the rest of creation and reintroduce animals as subjects

Abstract In literary genres concerned with an ethics of character, scholars in the third through fifth/ninth through eleventh century wrote about social trust. In this article I examine the ethical thinking of four such scholars: Ibn Abī l-Dunyā (d. 281/894), al-Kharāʾiṭī (d. 327/939), al-Māwardī (d. 450/1058), and al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111). Locating conceptualisations of the ethical concerns related to trust and mistrust, trustworthiness, trusting and misplaced trust, in a semantic field including the vocabulary of amāna, tawakkul, thiqa and ḥusn al-ẓann, I identify and discuss in this article some of these concerns, and I analyse in what ways the scholars’ respective conceptualisations of issues related to trust are similar, and how they differ from each other. While some scholars explicitly conceptualise the ethical value of trust in the concept of amāna, the juxtaposed social and spiritual aspects of the concept of amāna is more implicit with other scholars.

الخلاصة تدرس هذه المقالة “التقوى” كمفهوم أخلاقي مركزي في القرآن، ارتبطت به الأحكام العملية والمفهومات الأخلاقية الأخرى، وقد توزعت الدراسة على محورين، الأول دراسة لغوية للدلالة المعجمية لجذر المفهوم واشتقاقاته، واستعمالاته تاريخياً. والمحور الثاني دراسة سياقية دلالية تستقرئ الاستخدام القرآني لمفهوم “التقوى”، فتصف وتؤرخ حضوره في النص القرآني، مع مقارنة ذلك بفهم المفسرين لمعنى “التقوى” في الآيات. وتنتهي الدراسة إلى ضبط بؤرة المعنى اللغوي، والتي تربط “التقوى” بحصانة أخلاقية تجعل الإنسان على بصيرة تجنبه من الوقوع في الشر، مع أمل مؤكد بفلاح دنيوي ونجاة أخرو ية. فالتقوى حسب القرآن ملَكَةٌ تكوينية (من إلهام الله) في نفس الإنسان مشتركة بين جميع الخلق، سابقة على الوحي والتشريع، وهي معيار تفاضل الناس حتى بعد اكتمال التشريع، وجعلها القرآن جوهر التشريع وغاية التكليف. يبرز المقال أن مفهوم “التقوى” في القرآن يعبر عن الضمير الأخلاقي الفطري لدى الإنسان‫.‬