Using Historical Islamic Sources to Promote Ethical Character
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This article provides a survey of the development of Islamic ethical literature. It argues that this literature promotes not only submission to Allah Almighty and the divine law, it also portrays ethics as a path that offers a peaceful inner life and elicits cooperative behavior from others. This article surveys the most significant literary forms currently available in Persian and English from the first six centuries of Islamic civilization produced in West, South and Central Asia that provide appealing sources of ethics.1 It demonstrates that the variations in style and format of this literature derives from the efforts of Muslim poets, viziers, teachers and scholars to overcome the political difficulties in challenging corruption, tyranny and oppression. It argues that this literature offers an antidote to antagonistic Western stereotypes of Islam and also provides inspiration to teachers, parents and active citizens throughout the world. This article is divided into three sections. The first section summarizes five reasons to study Islamic ethics, the second section goes on to define the term Islamic ethics and the third section explains the historical development of both Arabic and Persian as modern languages which were used to promote ethics. This background allows for the discussion in the body of the paper extolling the character and benefits of eight forms of literature taken in the historical sequence of their appearance. It concludes that this literature is of great value for people around the world; the more the non-Muslims learn of this literature, the more highly they will appreciate their Muslim neighbors for their ethical ideals and human values.
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