Social Intuitions and Qurʾānic Ethics Kevin Rienhart 1

Similar documents
Rationality and Religious Ethics; The Discussion on an Autonomous Moral in Catholic Theology

Preservation of Sunnah (part 1 of 4)

Q & A on verse 4:59. What about the obedience of the ulu l amr in relation to that of the Messenger?

(NEW) In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful INTRODUCTION

2058 ISLAMIYAT. 2058/22 Paper 2, maximum raw mark 50

Islam AN AGE OF ACCELERATING CONNECTIONS ( )

MARK SCHEME for the October/November 2012 series 2058 ISLAMIYAT. 2058/21 Paper 2, maximum raw mark 50

Cambridge International Advanced Level 9013 Islamic Studies November 2014 Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Cambridge International Advanced Level 9013 Islamic Studies November 2014 Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Islam Timed-Writing Exercise

Introduction to Islamic Law

BOOK REVIEWS ETHICO RELIGIOUS CONCEPTS IN THE QUR AN. By Toshihiko Izutsu, Montreal pp., Index

In God we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). God, the Source and Sustainer of everything that exists

Islam: Beliefs and Teachings

04. The nature of religious texts

SLIDES file # 2. Course No: ISL 110 Course Title: Islamic Culture Instructor: Mr. Taher Shah Hussain Chapter 1 : Sources of Islamic Legislation

Presented at Khazanah Megatrends Forum (KMF) 2013, Kuala Lumpur on September 30, 2013, by Prof. M. Kamal Hassan ISTAC, IIUM

Bismallah ar-rahman, ar-rahim (In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful)

INTERPRETATION OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD (SAWA) IS INTRINSIC TO UNDERSTANDING QURAN

I will first state the committee s declaration and then give my response in bold print.

CO N T E N T S. Introduction 8

Negative Approach Towards Wasila and Intercession

Political Science Legal Studies 217

ISLAMIC STUDIES 9013/13 Paper 1 October/November 2016 MARK SCHEME Maximum Mark: 100. Published

Understanding God s Mercy

The Holy Spirit and Miraculous Gifts (2) 1 Corinthians 12-14

Cambridge Assessment International Education Cambridge International Advanced Subsidiary Level. Published

What does the Bible say about itself?

Islam-Democracy Reconciliation in the Thought/Writings of Asghar Ali Engineer

The World Of Islam. By: Hazar Jaber

The articles on this website may be reproduced freely as long as the following source reference is provided: Joseph A Islam

part one MACROSTRUCTURE Cambridge University Press X - A Theory of Argument Mark Vorobej Excerpt More information

Speaking from Behind the Veil. Hibba Abugideiri Villanova University

Islamic Beliefs and Practices

The Kripkenstein Paradox and the Private World. In his paper, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Languages, Kripke expands upon a conclusion

ISLAM at a Glance. Answers to common questions on Islam

Lesson 10 The Prayer of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and The Farewell Sermon

The Islamic Religion

IS ADOPTION FORBIDDEN IN ISLAM?

Primitive Concepts. David J. Chalmers

Islamic Perspectives

GCE Religious Studies. Mark Scheme for June Unit G588: Islam. Advanced GCE. Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations

THE ARAB EMPIRE. AP World History Notes Chapter 11

The Origins of Islam. The Message and the Messenger. Created By: Beatrix, Lorien, and Selah

Odeh A. Muhawesh. Muslim Law and Practices

2058 Islamiyat November 2003 ISLAMIYAT GCE Ordinary Level... 2 Papers 2058/01 and 2058/02 Paper 1 and Paper

WHY AMERICANIZED MUSLIM REFORMERS ARE FAILING

Letters From Christ to the Churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, and Thyatira

Peaceful Coexistence in Multi-Cultural Societies: The Qu ranic Perspective

In Defense of Culpable Ignorance

LAST WILL & TESTAMENT OF

Introduction to Islam. Wonders of Arabia Windstar Cruises Ross Arnold, Fall 2014

The Shariah and Its Application. Table of Contents. Table of Contents...2. The Shariah and Its Application...3

GCE. Religious Studies. Mark Scheme for June Advanced GCE Unit G588: Islam. Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations

Women & Men in Early Islam

In the last section, you read about early civilizations in South America. In this section, you will read about the rise of Islam.

INTRODUCTION TO WORLD RELIGIONS THEOLOGY 261 SPRING SEMESTER

The Need for Metanormativity: A Response to Christmas

On the reward the doers of good First Sermon All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. He rewards the dowers of good generously.

What differentiates Muhammad from other prophets? If Muslims believe in them all, why does one always hear about Muhammad?

Rulings pertaining to An Naskh (Abrogation)

World Religions. These subject guidelines should be read in conjunction with the Introduction, Outline and Details all essays sections of this guide.

MARK SCHEME for the October/November 2015 series 2058 ISLAMIYAT. 2058/21 Paper 2, maximum raw mark 50

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); the Model Instructor

Chapter 9: Islam & the Arab Empire, Lesson 1: The First Muslims

Everyone Managing Religion in the Workplace - Ramadan

BIG IDEAS OVERVIEW FOR AGE GROUPS

WHY WE NEED TO STUDY EARLY MUSLIM HISTORY

Chapter 10: The Muslim World,

What is Taqwa and How to increase it

Islam beliefs and practices KEY WORDS

How Should We Read the Qur an? [a simple and basic glimpse into the methodology of reading and understanding the Qur an]

NATIONAL SENIOR CERTIFICATE GRADE 12

Religious Freedom and Tolerance in Islam

Surah 72. Al-Jinn Say: "Verily, it is not in my power to cause you harm or to endow you with consciousness of what is right.

Candidate Surname. Candidate Number

The Arabian Peninsula. Farming limited in Arabia Commerce lively Mecca, near Red Sea, most important of coastal towns

Cambridge Assessment International Education Cambridge Ordinary Level. Published

Glimpses at the Essence of the Qur'an

An Introduction to Classical Study of the Qurʾān

Islam. B y : A r i a n n a, P a t r i c k, V e r a, a n d D a n i e l FABRIKAM

argument introduction foundational

Leadership in the 21 st Century: New Challenges for Islamic School Principals

Tafsir Surat al Baqarah: 2:30 to 39 RSC YOUTH BIRMINGHAM

FANTASY ISLAM (KAFIR EDITION), PART II

The Islamic Doctrine of "Abrogation"

8053 ISLAMIC STUDIES

Craig on the Experience of Tense

Task: Topic: Type: Length: Formatting: Requirements:

charitable act. Forbidding evil is a charitable act. Helping a man who has bad eyesight to see things is a

2058 ISLAMIYAT 2058/02 Paper 2, maximum raw mark 50

Logic: Deductive and Inductive by Carveth Read M.A. CHAPTER VI CONDITIONS OF IMMEDIATE INFERENCE

MARK SCHEME for the October/November 2013 series 2058 ISLAMIYAT. 2058/22 Paper 2, maximum raw mark 50

Moral System of Islam

THE RISE OF ISLAM U N I T I I I

Dr. BasharShala With Permission to MuslimMatters.org

Bismallah ar-rahman, ar-rahim (In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful)

Is Allah Pleased with Me?

THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF PARIS

GRADE 4 AQEEDAH COURSE TOPICS

Transcription:

Abstract Social Intuitions and Qurʾānic Ethics Kevin Rienhart 1 Detractors of, apologists for, and those who would simply describe Islamic ethics, often assert that the Qurʾān is the source of Muslim norms of behavior. While at one level this assertion is indisputable, to assert this casually obscures one of the most subtle and most distinctive features of Qurʾānic ethics, namely that the Qurʾān very frequently specifies that one ought to act according to norms not specified in the Qurʾān, that is, one is to have recourse to sources of ethical knowledge located elsewhere than in Revelation. This paper will justify this assertion, and then explore the implications of a Revelational specification to follow non-revelational moral norms. Preliminarily such a doctrine would seem consistent with features of Qurʾānic anthropology and cosmology which, in contrast, for example, with most forms of Christianity, diminished the categorical difference between the Next world and This one, and between human nature and human potential. Some possible different workings-out of this ethical system for Imāmī-Shīʿī and Sunnī Islam will be considered as well. Keywords: Social Intuitions, Qurʾānic Ethics, The roots of ethics in the Qurʾān, Ethical words in the Qurʾān 1. Professor Dartmouth College (kevin.reinhartdartmouth.edu).

Introduction The prevailing understanding of Qurʾānic ethics both among fundamentalists and critics of Islam is that the Qurʾān provides a set of specific and quite rigid rules for living the Islamic life. These rules constitute the sharīʿah, usually translated as Sacred Law, and justify the claim that Islam is more than a religion, that Islam is a way of life. Yet from the point of view of the History of Religions, this commonly-held belief that the Qurʾān is made up of rules poses a problem. Islam was arguably the first world religion, and it has proved a meaningful way to live in an astonishing set of geographical and sociological environments-urban and rural, tropical and desert, pastoral and agricultural. One would expect that diversity and flexibility would characterize such a religious institution, rather than the rigidity and prescriptivism that its haters and some of its proponents ascribe to it. As part of a larger project examining Islamic variation, I want to consider today the ethical assumptions of the Qurʾān itself as a model for Muslims to reflect upon as in the 16 th /21 st century proceeds. nic Ethics 4 Social Intuitions and Qurā The notion that the Qurʾān is full of rules is hard to sustain if one examines the Qurʾān carefully. The belief that the Qurʾān is a book of stipulations arises partly from the accident of the Qurʾān s arrangement: the first several sūrahs in the redacted Qurʾān-al-Baqarah, Āl ʿImrān, al-nisāʾ, al-māʾidah, etc.-have a relatively high percentage of rules that (following traditional dating) arose during the creation of the Islamic polity in Madīnah: rules for marriage and divorce, inheritance and incest rules, food rules, contract and diplomatic relations, and so on. Yet, there is a general agreement that even the most generous accounting of Qurʾānic prescription gives one only some 500 rules in the entire Qurʾān. This is nowhere near enough to be the basis for a rule-driven religion or system of ethics. I want to suggest that from the early days of Islam the Qurʾān was mostly understood not as a rulebook. Proof is that both ʿAlid and non-ʿalid communities quickly developed theories of augmentation-either by means of charismatic guides (the Imāms) and/or the sunnah of the early generations, the Companions and the Prophet himself-to fill in the gaps in the Qurʾānic revelation. In short, Qurʾānic ethics cannot be rule-bound, as early Muslims knew. My argument here is that this turn toward sources other than the Qurʾān to understand how to act in accord with Qurʾānic intentions is due not to some sort of deficiency in Qurāʾnic ethics. Rather, that search for another source of ethical knowledge is part and parcel of Qurʾānic ethics; it is stipulated by the Qurʾān itself.

To me, the most striking fact of the Qurʾān is not that it contains rules-often quite detailed rules about family, property, and society-that should really surprise only Christians and especially contemporary Protestantized Christians whose normative model of religion is a religion comprised of concepts, sentiments and dogmas-in other words, mental rather than practiced constituents. For them rules of practice are distinctly secondary and even hazardous, since the written law inflicts death. 1 That distaste for rules is simply a theology-driven choice. Certainly the belief that the presence of rules leads necessarily to rigidity or even transgression is based on a naive view of reading, as we will see. Read carefully, the Qurʾān s ethical discourse is in fact open-ended, contextual, and demands a careful situational analysis shaped by local and temporal norms; it is not to be understood (based on the Qurʾānic text alone) as comprised solely or even mainly of rigid and eternally prescribed, specific and unchanging rules of conduct as so many in our age-muslim and non-muslim-suppose. The Vocabulary of Qur ānic Virtues Let us consider only some of the large number of Qurʾānic words that denote virtue in the broad sense. In this way we may come to understand what the Qurʾān understands to be the good. Let us begin with a Qurʾānic term for virtue that defines virtue fairly explicitly: Derivatives of the root letters b-r-r. 2 The most common form is the nominative, al-birr, which is used eight times in the Qurʾān (Q 2:44, 177 [twice], 18 [twice]; 3:2; 5:2; 58:), in passages coming from the later period of revelation. In Qurʾānic usage, birr connotes virtue or righteousness in the context of religious attitudes and acts, as in the verbal form Q 2:224: { act well (tabarrū), fear God, and reconcile people,} or Q 60:8: { to be good to [your opponents] and be equitable toward them.} The term in pre-islamic Arabic seems to have meant piety - especially towards one's parents, 3 benignity, but also a state of heightened and disabling purity resulting from ritual consecration practices, especially of the Ḥums. Q 2:18 addresses what seems to be a pre-islamic taboo, connected perhaps to the ḥajj, according to which people in the state of consecration (iḥrām) had to leave and return to their houses via back doors and even holes under walls. 4 The cultic usage is directly confronted by the Qurʾān: {it is not birr to go to houses from their backs but rather, pious is the one who Fourth Year, Volume, Autumn & Winter 2015 5 1. Paul 2 Corinthians 3:6 Knox translation. 2. see Izutsu, 166 #3, 207-11. 3. From the same root comes the verb barr, which seems to mean, literally, to be pious, that is, filial toward parents (see Q 1:14, 32). God Himself is called al-barr (Q52:28). 4. Hurgronje, 2012 #4, 45; Juynboll, 2007 #2658, XXX.

fears God (wa-lakinna l-birra mani ttaqá).} The verse continues with an exhortation to enter houses by their doors (abwāb) and to fear God. This follows the general Qurʾānic presentation of piety when it is redefined through a series of lists (birr is not X but Y) to denote a state of inner disposition: it becomes God-consciousness (taqwá) as Rahman translated it. More elaborately, at Q 2:177 birr is once more defined over against cultic practice, in this case the older qiblah from which Muslims have been redirected and turned in worship to Mecca: {It is not birr that you turn your faces to the east and the west, but birr is one who has faith in God and the last day and the angels and the Book (q.v.) and the prophets, and [one who] gives wealth from love of Him to kin and orphans, and the unfortunate and ibn al-sabīl [probably those who have recently immigrated to Medina], and to those who ask; who frees slaves and undertakes worship and pays zakāt, and those who fulfill their compact ( ahd), when they make compacts, and the steadfast (al-ṣābirīn) in adversity, in stress, and time of tribulation; those who have integrity (ṣadaqū) - these are the ones who fear God (al-muttaqūn).} nic Ethics 6 Social Intuitions and Qurā The cultic prescriptions so dear to legists are not dismissed-one is still to perform ṣalāh, pay zakāh, and turn in a certain direction when praying, but those practices are subordinated in what one of my teachers called the semantic re-filling of the term birr. The muslim 1 internal disposition toward God, the muslim s ethical judgementthese are the new meanings assigned to birr. Virtues such as generosity towards the vulnerable are listed along with the cultic worship and payment of one s religious dues in such profusion as to overwhelm the merely cultic and to subordinate it to the dispositional and the ethical. This is confirmed in three instances (Q 3:2; 5:2; 58:) where birr is paired with taqwá, piety or an awareness of God, or some derivative of the root letters w-q-y; in all cases it is overtly virtue, not cultic conformity in a religious context that is implied. {You do not attain birr until you spend (tunfiqū) from that which you love; and whatever you spend, God is aware of it. (Q 3:2).} It seems that by the end of the period of Qurʾānic revelation, a vocabulary defining virtuous membership in the community had been developed. Birr was among the terms that had significance in the pre-islamic world but were being redefined to convey a new, Qurʾānic, ethical sense. Piety in the Qurʾān is not just doing the right act, or observing the right taboos, but the inner disposition and attitude that transcend that act. 1. I take W. C. Smith s point seriously, that the Qur ān is concerned with the submitter (muslim) more than with members of a certain religion (Muslims).

The emptiness of Qur ānic virtue terms Though birr has been redefined away from its cultic and familial origins, it retainsthrough lists of conceptual synonyms-a degree of specificity that just allows us to emphasize the perspectival, attitudinal, in understanding the term. Even that degree of specificity is absent from other important terms for virtue in Qurʾānic ethical discourse. For example, the very common term for good and good works (khayr, khayrāt) are as vague in the Qurʾān as the English terms we use to translate them. 1 The term usually is stereotyped with vie in or hasten to. 2 Khayr itself means good, and in certain contexts has an explicitly moral sense, as in Q 3:26: {in your hand (God) is the good (al-khayr).} Izutsu points out that this term usually refers to bounty and wealth, or to bounty and wealth properly used. 3 It is things we like or of which we approve. Khayr, then, is what we might call a natural good, but beyond that, not much more can be said. Likewise, it is difficult to translate ḥ-s-n and its derivatives more precisely than with the word good. Aside from aesthetic description and mere approval in a number of places, the root sometimes suggests ethical action: {then we gave Moses (q.v.) the book complete for those who do good (alladhī aḥsana)...} (Q6:154). The most obvious ethical usage of the root is with the form iḥsān, which occurs twelve times, 4 e.g. {kindly treatment of parents} (Q 2:83, bi-l-wdlidayni iḥsānan), or {Divorce twice, then take back with maʿrūf or release with ihsān} (Q2:22). The point of these passages is to incite the listener to what he/she knows to be proper behavior. More often, it is overtly a reference to religiously-approved behavior, especially when this form is used in the plural, e.g. Q 3:172: Those who responded to God and the messenger after the wound befell them, for those among them who did well (ahsanū) and feared God-a mighty reward! Izutsu suggests that the root ḥ-s-n refers to pious acts and includes ethical acts informed by the pre-islamic virtue of prudent forbearance (ḥilm). 5 One passage that suggests a progression of virtuous development or a hierarchy of ethical values is the following: Fourth Year, Volume, Autumn & Winter 2015 7 For those who have faith and do good deeds (ṣāliḥāt), there shall be no transgression (junāḥ) concerning what they have eaten. Therefore [be one of those who] fear God and 1. {Vie with one another in good works} (Q2:148); see also 3:114 where it is linked with enjoining the ma rūf; see below for a discussion of this term. 2. e.g. Q23:56. 3. Izutso, 166, 217 f; but see also Q 5:48; 8:70. 4. Q 2:83,178, 22; 4:36, 62; 6:151; :100; 16:0; 17:23; 46:15; 55:60 [twice]. 5. Izutso, 166, 224 ff.

have faith and do good deeds (ṣāliḥāt), then fear God and have faith, then fear God and do kindness (ahsanū); God loves those who do kindness. (Q5:3) The most frequent word for virtuous conduct is ṣāliḥ or other words from the root which occur some 171 times in the Qurʾān. The root appears in verbal forms as in, {who does right (man ṣalaḥa) from among their fathers, wives, and offspring [shall enter the Garden of Eden]}. 1 Its most common form is a nominal plural in stereotype with ʿamilu as doing good deeds, or those who do virtuous acts (alladhīna ʿamilu l- ṣāliḥāt). 2ʿAmilu l-ṣāliḥāt is so common as to amount almost to a chorus in Qurʾānic discourse. Ṣāliḥ acts explicitly earn the doer paradise. 3 Very often ṣāliḥ is joined to other fundamental Qurʾānic concepts, as in Q 5:3 which we ve already seen: { Therefore- [be one of those who] fear God and have faith and do good deeds (ṣāliḥāt) }. The twinning of faith and good works led lzutsu to speculate that ṣāliḥ is the outward expression of the faith (imān) so often enjoined by the Qur an. 4 It certainly is the case that ṣāliḥ is sometimes found among the qualities listed in passages that read like catechisms of what it means to be a virtuous Muslim. 5 Yet, for all its prominence in the Qurʾān, the ṣālih is undefined, and this it shares with the other important terms for virtue. nic Ethics Social Intuitions and Qurā The term that best helps us to understand the nature of Qurʾān ethical prescriptions is maʿrūf, a term that appears 3 times (in slightly varying forms) in the Qurʾān yet seems to require no explanation from either the Qurʾānic text or from commentators. 6 It is often paired with kindness (iḥsān) and is itself often translated merely as kindness. It is frequently an adjective, e.g., {Qawl maʿrūf}, 7 but it is most interesting when it straddles the line between adverb and noun. {Bi-l-maʿrūf} functions Qurʾānically both to tell us how something is to be done and what is to be done: { so long as you give them what you provide them bi-l-maʿrūf} (Q2:233). Indeed, in the aḥkām verses, maʿrūf often modifies a command-pay bi-l-maʿrūf, for instance. 8 8 1. also 40:8; 13:23. 2. e.g. Q 2:25 and numerous other instances. 3. Q 2:25; 5:3; 18:107. 4. Izutso, 166, 204. 5. see, for instance, Q 2:277; 5:8. 6. See the discussions on the first occurrence of the term, Q 2:178, in al-tabarī, Tafsīr, al- Nīsābūrī, Tafsīr, al-qurṭubī, Jāmi. 7. e.g., 47:21; 2:263. 8. See also 2:228, 2:178 and elsewhere.

Most importantly for the Islamic ethical tradition is the injunction to {command the maʿrūf and forbid the munkar}. 1 Here maʿrūf cannot mean kindness. So, what does it mean Michael Cook says elegantly: There is no indication that [ma rūf] is itself a technical or even a legal term. Thus it seems that we have to do with the kind of ethical term that passes the buck to specific standards of behavior already known and established.2 The word occurs without the sorts of definitional lists we saw with birr: It is this, it is that. If we pay attention to the Qurʾānic text, we must note that the text refers only to the maʿrūf without explanation. Our only clue is that maʿrūf means the known. But how is it known Nothing in the use of maʿrūf stipulates how the maʿrūf is known-the Qurʾān does not say maʿrūf bi-l-sharʿ or maʿrūf min al-nabī or min ūlū l-amr or min ahl al-ʿilm or anything else. Do good deeds. Do kindness. How anodyne! one might think. Be a good person. Is this helpful to a person facing a temptation or an ethical dilemma I believe the answer to be yes, this is helpful. One lexicographer uses a standard understanding of knowing to suggest that the test of the maʿrūf isthat it is that in which the self finds ease (sakinat ilayhi l-nafs)and it deems it good, because of its goodness-intellectually, revelationally, and customarily. 3 In other words, the Qurʾān assumes that some part of the good enjoined by the Qurʾān is known without revelational stipulation. It is ordinary knowledge to which the Qurʾān refers. You know what to do and how to do it, says the Qurʾān. Do it the right way. You know the difference between doing something with kindness and doing it grudgingly, obeying the spirit of the law and not merely the letter. In other words, the Qurʾān not only provides a particular and unique species of knowledge through Revelation, but it also indicates the moral knowledge of the Meccans and Medinans and indeed all the Arabs hearing the Qurʾān between 612 and 632. 4 This was recognized and indeed canonized as an epistemic principle by al-shāfiʿī in his Risālah when he said that understanding the Qurʾān depended upon grasping the various implications of a Qurʾānic declaration that are apparent to a speaker of the language in which the Qurʾān was revealed, but are not apparent to a non-native. 5 Fourth Year, Volume, Autumn & Winter 2015 1. 3:104 and seven other times. 2. Commanding 15. 3. Abu l-baqā, Kūlliyāt, iv, 185. 4. see Hodgson, Venture of Islam, i, 163. 5.Risālah 53-4.

Al-Shāfiʿī s response to this feature of revelation was to argue that the Qurʾān s auditors understood the Qurʾān mostly in the context of the Prophet s normative activities and sayings-the Prophet s sunnah. Yet recent research has shown that Shāfiʿī was making an argument, not reflecting the early Muslims practice: 1 All kinds of knowledge from all sorts of people augmented and informed the quest to be a good Muslim. In short, it was the ethical culture of Arabia that the Qurʾān assumes to underpin Qurʾānic dictates when it tells Muslims to do something bi-l-maʿrūf or to command the maʿrūf. Nonetheless, both al-shāfiʿī with his emphasis on the Prophet s sunnah and the early jurists with their emphasis on the normativity of the early Muslims in Arabia were focused on an illud tempus, a religious Golden Age-understanding of how to augment the Revelation. Does the Qurʾān share this point of view Of course it enjoins obedience to the Prophet but in the passages cited, the absence of this model of ethical amplification is striking. The Qurʾān does not say command what the Prophet liked and forbid what he despised; nor does the Qurʾān say If you want to know what known is (wa-mā adarāka mā al-maʿrūf)look to the customs of your forefathers among the Arabs, though surely in the seventh century environment that is the relevant context. 2 Maʿrūf, ṣāliḥ, birr, ḥasan/iḥsān -none of these terms points to a single source of knowledge. In fact, in their very specificity they point to ethical knowledge, generally. nic Ethics Social Intuitions and Qurā 10 Yet, is the Qurʾān s appeal to cultural knowledge restricted to the seventh century or is it an appeal to invoke what is known by Muslims when they reflect upon the Qurʾān in the world in which they live The history of Muslims grasp of the Qurʾān is-it seems to me-of Muslims gradually discovering that the Qurʾān is more than they had known. There is no doubt that most early Muslims saw the Qurʾān as their Scripture, as the text for an Arabian ethnic religion. We know that in the eighth century conversion to Islam was actually discouraged and that few non-arabs were allowed to convert to Islam without first converting to Arabism by becoming mawālī. If the accounts are to be believed, at least one of the Umayyad caliphs and some of the Shīʿī imams disagreed with this position, but it was the position generally held by Muslims and one enforced by the state. By the th century, on the other hand, conversion was openly advocated and 1. Lucas, 2008 #5. 2. This is not to say that revelation or the Prophet or experts, including infallible ones, have nothing to say, of course.

Islam became a world religion, rather than an ethnic religion. Muslims discovered that the Qurʾān applied to humankind, not just to Arabs. Could it be, then, that the Qurʾān-when it commands the maʿrūf or that something be done maʿrūf an or bi-l-maʿrūf-expects the Muslims to look to what we know, in the 15 th Islamic and 21 st Milādī century Those changes in our ethical assumptions and knowledge, about slaves, about women, about equity and justice, are supposed to inform the reading of the Qurʾānic text now, just as they did when the first Muslims heard the Qurʾān. The Qurʾān s repeated use of unspecified terms for good, may not be imprecision, but a goad to ethical reflection in the contemporary environment. References 1. A. Y, Ali. (ed. and tr.); The Holy Qur a - n, (USA: American Trust Publications, 177) 2. Best, Ernest; Interpretation: Second Corinthians (Louisville: John Knox Press, 187) 3. Hurgronje, Snouck C; transl. by J.H. Monahan; Mekka in the latter part of the 1th century (Leiden: BRILL, 2007) 4. Izutsu, Toshihiko; Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an (Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press, 166) Fourth Year, Volume, Autumn & Winter 2015 11

כ شهودهای اجتماعی و اخلاق قرا نی. : <כ ש א אא אא כ אא אא אא אא א א אא א כ א אא א אא א. א א אכאא א אא א ש כ א א א אא א א כ כ אכ א כ א א א כ א ש א א כ אא אש א א א <אש ש א כ כ אא א ש. א א א א א א א א אאא <א א א א א א א א א אא א אא כ. א א א < כ א <א א אכ שכ א < א אא אא אאשא כאשא א א א א אא אא אא א א א א א א אא אא ש אא א אא א א אא א.א. א א א.א אא אא <א אא <א אא אא ש :E ש אא אא אא אשכ כא א אכא (kevin.reinhartdartmouth.edu)

א אא א אא אאא א <א אא א א א כ א א א א א א א א א א אא «א /sacred law» א כ <א א ש א א.א א כ א» כ א ש «אא כ אא א כ <ש «אא כ ש א». אא א א אא א א א כ א א א א א שכ אא א אא ש כ א «א» א א אא.כ ש א אשא אא א א א אא כ אא כשא א <אא <א אא א כ אש א א ש. א אאאש אכ <א אא כ כ א א אא א א א א א אא א א. א א א /א כ א א א כ כ א א אש א כ א א א א א ש א א כא א כ א א א. «א א» < כ ש א א א א א א : א אא» כ א א אא א אא <... א <א אء א א <א אא א שא : א אא א א אא «א א א א א < אא א א אא. א א כ כ א 500 א א א א אא כ א 4 3 1 12

אא א א כ א א א א.כ א א 13 אא אא א א א כ א א.כ כא כ כ א א אש א כ א כ «כא «א א. שאש א כ א א א א א אאש א כ א א אאא כאאכ אאא א א א א א א כ א כא כ. א א אא א אא א אש. א א א א אא א אא א א א ש א כ א א אא א כ א א א א א כ אא א < א = א אא א אכ אא אש א א א כ.אא כא א א א א א א א א כ א א א א א א אא כ <א א < <אא <אא א א א א א א אשא א כ ש א א א א כ שכ א <א אאא א אש = א א < כ א» < אכ א אש א אא א. א א [ אא] א א כ אא א א.«א א אא א. א א א כ א א א א א אא כ א א אש אאאא א ש א אא א ש א א <א אא א. א א א כא אא כ א א כ א א אכ. <6 :3 א א.

שכ א = א א א א א א שכ א א א <(א א א א א א (א א כא א א א.כ <א א א אא א א כ א A.1 אא א כא א שא א כ כ א.א א כ א «/virtue» ש א א כ כ א א. «/good» א א כ כ א ש א אא א :א שא ש. א א ש כ א ««א א א ש א א אא שכ א א אא <( :58 <2 :5 <2 :3 <[ ] 18 :2 <[ ] 177 :2 <44 :2) אא כא א א א <א כא. : 224 :2 א א כ א א כ א <א אש 8 :60 א א < «אש א כ א (א ) א «piety» כ» כ.» א אא א אש [אאא] «א :א א שאאא אא א אא א א א אא כ א אשא (18 :2 ) <א א אא כ כא א ש א ש אאא א שאאא א א כ אא כ כ כ. א 211-207 <3 <166 א. אא...= א.(224 א < ) א א.... =... א א.(8 א < ).... א. א אא אא א אא א כ א :1 א ) א א ««אא אש א אא כ <א ש א א.(28 :52 א) א ש א «כ ). א 32 :1 14 «א 4 3 1 14

א כ א א א א א א אאשא א א א ש א אכ כא א א א.א אא כ כ אא א כ א כ א א כ < א ש א כ א» :כ אא א א (אא ) אשא א אא א א א. «שכ ) אא א א כ א א א כ א א.א א א א כ <כ א א א ) א א א א א < אש כ א א ש א שאאאאש.ש [God-consciousness] «אאא» [Rahman] א אכ אא א א כ (177 :1) א < א א כ ש אא א אא א א <ש כא : כ א א אא כ א כ כ כ ש א כ א 15 א א אש כא (אא ) אא אא א אש ()א א כא אא [אאא אכ א שאא אשש א כ א א כא ] אא א אא א א < א כ כא שא אכא < א כא א א כא אא אש : א כ אא אש = א א א א 1. Hurgronje, 2012, 4, 45; Juynboll, 2007, 2658, XXX. (א ). א א כ א א כ א.(18 א < ) =... א אא א א.... א אכ כ אא א כ א ש א אא א א א א כ א א א. אא אא אא אא א א אכ א א א א אא א א אء א א א כ א א א אאء א א א א א אא א כא א א = א כ א.(177 א < )

א :ש אש כא א כ כא א א א א א <א א כא א א א א א» א אא א כ כ א» כ אא א אא א א אש א. אא [semantic re-filling] אא שא א א כ אא אא <א אא אא ש א א.כ א א ש כ < כא א א כא אא כא כא א אא א ש כא אכ ש א א כ < א ) :3 <2 :5 <2 :58 ( כ אא. א אשא א א א א א א א אא = א < ש אש» כ א א אא אכ א. כ אא כ אא א א א כ א <א א א» אא א א.(2 :3 ) אא כ א שכ אא < אא כ א כ אאא א.כ א א א שאאא א אש א אא א ש א א אא א א כ <א אא א א < כאא א אא א א.א א. א א א כ א ש אש 4 3 1 16 א א א א) ) «אש» א ש א כ א א.. כ. אא כ א.(אא).= א א א ء ש א א א א א אא.

א ש א אאאש כא אש א א א אא א א א א כ א אא א ש א א אא אכ כ. א אא א אא א א א א אא ««כאא א כ כא א אא <א א.א א א כ א כ א א א <א <ש כ א.good works good <א אא כ אא א א. כא כ»» א.2 א א א א א <א אא א כ א א א א כ א א. «( ) «( אא) :א 26 כ :3 א אשא כ כ א אא א א א <א א א א אא א א א א כ א א ש. אא כ 17 א א אא < א א שא כ א <אא. א א. א כ כא שאש כ <א כ כ א 114 :3 =(148 :2 א) א = א א א «א כאא». =ש א א = א א אכ א א א «א כ «א 4. Izutso, 166, 217 f; 70 :8 48 :5 א כ א כ. א כ א.(56 :23) א א..= א כ. [Izutsu, Toshihiko, Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an (Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press, 166) ( א א א א אאא א)]

א שא א אא אשא א א א. אש אש כא א כא א «אא א : אא כש א א ש א <א «כ כא כ כא א א ש א אא כא ש.(154 :6 ) «אא א א ש אכ א א כ א «אא» כ שכ א א א א א א א» א <( A <83 :2 ) A A A A A A «א א א אא א כ» כ 22). 2: ) א א א א כ א ש א א אא א <א ש.אא א א א א א < כא כ א א שכ א א שא :א 172 :3 א א כא כ א אכ אש א א א אא כ א כא א אא כ כ (א (א א כ אאש א. אא שא א א אא אא אש. () א ש אאא ש כ א א שאאא שכא אשא אא אשא א א א ש ש א כ א א כ א ( א ) א כא א ) (אא א א א : כאא א אא כ כא שא כאא א אא כ ש א כ א [א] (א א א ) כ א ש כ אא א אא א ש כ אא א 4 3 1 18.= א א א א א אכ א א..[ ] 60 :55 <15 :46 <23 :17 <0 :16 <1 00 : <151 :6 <62 :4 <36 :4 <22 :2 <178 :2 <83 :2 <א. 5. Izutsu, 166, 224 ff. א =. א א אכ א א א א..= א א אא א א א אא א א א א א.

.(3 :5 ).א א ככאא א (א (א כ כא אשא א כ כא א שא א «א» א כ א 171 אכ ש א. א ש א א ש אאשא אשא אשא א א = כ כ «א א א כ ש א שכ שא. ש ]» א א א ] א כ א א א כא א «אא א כאא «כא כ אא אא «א א אא א = א. כ כ א כ כא אא א א אאא» «א א «1 א א ש כאא א כ א אש א כאא א. א א א <ש א א א א א «א» <א א א.א 3 :5 כ ש כ]» : א כא אש כ ] א ש כ אא א כאא (אאא ) אא. «א «א» כ אאש א א א א <א אא א א א א א. ש א א א א כ אש א «אא» א כ ש א א א אא א «א» אא ש כ כ כ א.א א < כ אא אא א אא א א א א אא א אא א אא א אא א אא. אא א א א א א.=.= א א א א א. 7. Izutsu, 166, 204..23 :13 8 :40.. א א 25 :2 א <א א..107 :18 <3 :5 <25 :2 :א..= א א א א א א אא..8 :5 <227 :2 א כ א < א.

א א א ש כ א <א א «א» כ א א א. א א א כ כא א אא כ א ש ככ א א א א אא א כ שכא ) א ש כ א 3 כ א כ כ אש א א א א א אא א א א (א א כ א א א (אא ) א ש ש א א א. «א».כ א א כ א <א א» «< אא א «א». א א כ א א א א כא כ א ש אא א כא כ א א כאכ א אא ש : «א אא כ אא א א א אשא א כא «233). (2: «א» א א א א כ א אכא אא <א א. א אא אא «א א «כ כ. א אא א א «א» אש. א =א : א ככ כא א אא כ ש [] כ א שאא כא אא אא כ א כ אא א. שאש א אאאא א כש כ א א כ א א א א א 178 <ש א א א א א א.א א = אשא = א כ : א..263 :2 <21 :47 <א א. א א א אא.. אא 178 :2 <228 :2 כ א.. א 104 :3. 4 3 1 20

א. כ 21 א כ א א א כ כ א א «א א». א א א כ ש א א א א א. א א א א «א א» כ א א כ «שאש». אא שא ש = כאא כ א ש שא כ א א»» א א אא» א» א א» א» א «!כ» «שא». «כאא.כ א «.כ א א ש כ כ «אא אש». אא אא א כ כ א כ א כ אא א כ «.א א <» א : א א כ =א אא א א» א כ אא «שא» א אאא א א א א א ) א כ) א אאש א» כ א א כא כ «א < א.«א < א אש א <א כ א א כ א כ א א א א. אא א שא א א. שאש א : «שא א כ.«כ «א א אא. שא < אכא א א א אא א א א אא א א < א «. שא א אא א א אא א א א א א א שא א אא א א א א א כ א כ א כ א אא שא כ 1. Cook, Commanding, 15..185 <4 כא אאאء.

.ש שא א 632 א 612 אא א א א שא אאש א א א כ א א א א א כ א א א א. ש ש א כא א א כ א כ א כ א א ש א ש אש אא. ש א א אכ א א א א א א כ א א שא אכש.א א א א א אא כ א <כ אא אא כ אא שא כ א א שא א א אא א שא אא כ : א א אא אא א א כ ש א ש אאש א א כ א אא א <א.א אא א א כ א אא א א כ א א א. א ש א א א אכשא א א א א אכש א שא <א א אא א ש כ < כ א א א א = א א א א א אא כ. א א א א א א ש כ א אא <כ א א א א א א א» א א. א אא א ש א א «א א כ»= א א א כ א א 4 3 1 22 3. Lucas, 2008, 5..Hodgson, Venture of Islam, i, 163 כ א..54-53 <א.

כ» א אא א ) א אכ ( א א < א. א א.א אשא א שא כ אאא א א כא אא/.כ אשא כ אא שא א אא <א א א ש א שא א אא שא א א א כ אא א א א א א כ א א א כ אא כש כ כ =א א כ א א אא כ א א א אא כ שכ.כ א ש כ א א א ש א א א. כ א כ < שא א כ ש כש אא א ש א אכ אא אא «א» ש א כש א 23. א אשא א < כ כ א א א א אאא ש א א א < אא כ אא א א א כ א א א א כש <א <.כ ש א כש אא. כ ש א כ אא כ כ א ש כא א. < א כ א א א כ א כ אא א כ כ א א כ אש אש אא אא א ש אא א א שא א כ א =אש א כ א.א א <א א <א א א א כ א א א.

אא א אא ש א <א א א א א <א אש כ א א א א <א א כ א אא א א ש א שא אאשא אששא א א א אש. אא אש א < א ש אאא א א כ.א א א אא א א א כ 4 3 1 24

1. A. Y, Ali. (ed. and tr.); The Holy Qur a - n, (USA: American Trust Publications, 177) 2. Best, Ernest; Interpretation: Second Corinthians (Louisville: John Knox Press, 187) 3. Hurgronje, Snouck C; transl. by J.H. Monahan; Mekka in the latter part of the 1th century (Leiden: BRILL, 2007) 4. Izutsu, Toshihiko; Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an (Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press, 166) 25