Muslim Ethics in the Contemporary World
The practice and influence of the diverse ethical heritage in Islam has continued in varying degrees among Muslims in the contemporary world. Muslims, whether they constitute majorities in the large number of independent nation states that have arisen in this century, or whether they live in significant numbers and communities elsewhere, are going through an important transitional phase.
There is growing self-consciousness about identification with past heritage and recognition of the need to adapt that heritage to changing circumstances amidst a globalisation of human society. Ethical questions faced by Muslims cannot be reflected in unified and monolithic responses. They must take
into account the diversity and pluralism that has marked the Muslims of the past as well as the present.
Ethical criteria that can govern issues of economic and social justice and moral strategies for dealing with questions of poverty and imbalance have taken up the greater share of Muslim attention in ethical matters. Whether such responses are labelled “modernist” or “fundamentalist,” they all reflect specific readings of past Muslim symbols and patterns and, in their rethinking and restating of norms and values, employ different strategies for inclusion, exclusion and encoding of specific representations of Islam. In terms of broad moral and ethical concerns, this ongoing discourse seeks to establish norms for both public and private life and is therefore simultaneously cultural, political, social and religious.
Since the modern conception of religion familiar to most people in the West assumes a theoretical separation between specifically religious and perceived secular activity, some aspects of contemporary Muslim discourse, which does not accept such a dichotomy, appear strange and often retrogressive. Where such discourse, expressed in what appears to be traditional religious language, has become linked to radical change or violence, it has unfortunately deepened
stereotypical perceptions about Muslim fanaticism, violence and cultural and moral difference. As events and developments in the last quarter of the twentieth century indicate, no one among the many Muslim societies in the world can be regarded as normative for all Muslims. In the pursuit of a vision that will guide Muslims in decisions and choices about present and future ethical matters, the most important challenge for Islam may not simply be to formulate a continuity and dialogue with its own past ethical underpinning but, like the Muslims
Excerpted from “The Ethical Tradition in Islam” Azim Nanji: Click here to download/read from Institute of Ismaili Studies http://www.iis.ac.uk/SiteAssets/pdf/The%20Ethical%20Tradition%20in%20Islam.pdf
Related from the Ismailimail Archives:
- Islam Isn’t Monolithic, Says Muslim
- Institute of Ismaili Studies Director – Azim Nanji – Speaks on Combating Religious Intolerance
- IIS Director speaks at Parma Symposium
- Professor Azim Nanji to participate in Christian Muslim Forum at Cambridge
- Aga Khan Award for Architecture
- Myths and Fables
- Director Institute of Ismaili Studies Professor Azim Nanji Speaks on Pluralism and its Contents
- Travel Writing inspired by Hajj
- Dictionary of Islam – by Azim Nanji
- The Institute of Ismaili Studies’ Golden Jubilee publications
Ismailimail 