Islamic Social Ethics: An Analysis of Miskawayh’s Thought

Abstract

Early Muslim discussions on ethics, such as those by al-Kindi (d.874) and al-Farabi (d.950), did not attain to the status of a discipline though invariably serving as an introduction or parts of their wider studies on politics, law and other fields of knowledge. Miskawayh (d. 1030), however, through his chief ethical treatise Tahdhib al-Akhlaq (1966), was the first Muslim moralist to work out a very clear, and in many respects, a thorough analytical system of ethics in Islam. The great Muslim scholar, al-Ghazali (d. 1111), as has been brought out by a number of writers on his ethical thought, incorporated the greater part of Miskawayh’s treatise, especially in his Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din (1976). Miskawayh’s ethical work was thus occupying a prominent place in this particular branch of Islamic ethical literature. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that most of the later works that deal with this subject use it as their main authority and some of them are even based on it. Hence, a close examination of this unique compendium is indispensable for a proper understanding of Islamic ethical thought. Thus, this qualitative study which applies conceptual content analysis method seeks to make a critical analysis of such an influential works on ethics with the purpose of elucidating its views concerning social ethics, love and friendship.