The ethics of virtue in a scriptural paradigm

Islamic views of the virtues were moulded inside a cadre of overlapping intellectual frameworks, which included influences from pre-Islamic Arab culture, the ancient Greek philosophical tra­dition, and above all the core religious scriptures, the Qur'an and hadith.The degree to which each of these influences asserted itself varied across different genres and works.

While humility (Arabic tawadu') appears in works of philosophical ethics, its treatment is limited. Al-Farabi (d. 950 or 951), for example, includes it in his Aphorisms of the Statesman, but has little to say about it (1971: 36). In Miskawayhs classification of the virtues in his Refinement of Character, humility is a conspicuous absentee. This may partly reflect the indifference to the virtue among ancient philosophers. It forms a far more important theme in texts more firmly anchored in the scriptural framework.The writers I will be focusing on populate different points of the loose philosophical—scriptural spectrum, with some (notably al-Ghazali and al-Raghib al-Isfahani) bearing clear traces of philosophical influence and others (Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya) developing their ideas more independently of it. These differences are reflected in the physiog­nomy of their writing, particularly in the analytical depth to which they are interested in prob­ing ideas and the level of theoretical scaffolding they seek to provide. Even among the more philosophically minded, the practical aims that shape their work mean that ideas often require unpacking to make them speak to the questions we might have about their subject.

Whatever their other differences, the thinkers I will be considering are united by a firm commitment to viewing the scriptural texts as a non-negotiable source of moral guidance. Both the Qur'an and the hadith show a sustained concern with moral questions about how people relate to their merits and about the right and wrong ways of doing so.“Be humble, and let none of you glory over others,” one tradition describes the Prophet as urging. According to another, “Nobody will enter paradise who has the merest speck of pride (kibr) in his heart.” The Qur'an is replete with admonitions against pride and its pernicious consequences. “How evil is the lodging of those that are proud!” (Q 40:76; compare 40:35, 16:29, 39:60). Pride is the failing of key figures in the Qur'an, including Iblis, the counterpart of Satan in the Islamic tradition. Commanded to bow to Adam after the latter's creation, Iblis refuses and haughtily retorts,“I am better than he; You created me of fire, and You created him of clay” (Q 7:12).

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