Reason and Ethics and an Islamic Reformation

Abstract The fourth chapter argues that the Shi‘i claim that the moral value of an act can be known objectively enables a jurist to deduce new injunctions based on moral rationalist considerations. The chapter also maintains that legal determinations based on rational and ethical considerations can empower a jurist to legislate on topics that are congruent with the views of the people of sound mind. It further demonstrates that disregarding the role of ethics in legal deliberations has led to the inference and issuance of iniquitous statements by the very scholars who uphold the Islamic ethical and legal tradition. In order to make Islamic jurisprudence more ethical, Muslim scholars will have to incorporate principles like justice, dignity, and judgments of reason (‘aql) in their legal deliberations so that these principles play more central and decisive roles in determining how the sources are interpreted and applied.

Reason and Ethics and an Islamic Reformation Chapters