IIQ1002

ETHICS AND SUFISM

THE SOURCE AND PRINCIPLE OF
AKHLAK

NAME: NUR MARDHIAH BINTI MOHD MIZAM

NO. MATRIC: U2100116
TUTORIAL: 1
1) The Sources of Akhlak in Islam

Basically, these moral and ethical attitudes contain of three main sources:

a. Intuitive Reasoning (al-fitra) or the basic innate constitution of all human beings.

b. Faculty of Reason (al- ‘Aqlu): The ability to reason and derive a decision by using one’s
mind. It is logical to derive that people of wisdom acquire morality. Muslim
philosophers like Ibn Tufail believe that any normal human being can recognize God,
with his divinely endowed nature and his reason.

c. Divine Revelation (al-wahyu, Tanzil): Muslims believe that God guides humanity by
sending several prophets and apostles, who are the bearers of the revelation.

2) The Foundations of Akhlak in Islam

a. Islamic morals are in harmony with the sound human nature with which God
created people.

Innate morals, which appear in a person from the beginning of his life and the
beginning of his upbringing, as he the prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of
God be upon him, said: (There is no child who is not born on the natural instinct.)

b. Morals acquired from the natural or social environment or the succession of

experiences.

In order to acquire a character, there must be this innate predisposition to acquire it,
and this varies from one person to another. The Prophet S.A.W. said: “People are
minerals, like minerals of silver and gold. If they were the best in the pre-Islamic era,
then they were the best in Islam if they understood.” In this hadith, the Messenger
S.A.W. proves the existence of differences in the innate and moral endowments.
Previously, because faith, knowledge and politeness extend a person who has a good
character in the origin of his nature and increase him with good character and
upright behavior.

c. Principles and Rules of Akhlak in Islam.

However, the most important moral foundation (the 1st one) is religious belief (Asas
Al-I’tiqadi), which is to believe in Allah S.W.T. (Al-iman Billah) ,This foundation is the
strongest foundation in creating Islamic morals because the beauty of good deeds
cannot be felt with a heart that does not believe in God. The next principle is all
about practical basis (Asas A’mali). Islam has mediated between two contradictory
calls, the first of which calls for a normal life (Hayah At-tabii’yyah), because it is a
healthy life that leads to happiness and the second one called for spirituality (Ar-
Ruhaniyat), and it fought against nature, and not to give in to the pressure of life’s
facts, whatever their nature and severity. Hence, Islam was not as extreme in its call
to life with nature as the naturalists who called for immortality to the earth. Finally,
 the importance of observance of human nature (Maraa’tu tabiah Al-insan) is traced
back to ethical studies, because there is a close correlation between behavior and
human nature, and because the success of the moral system depends on how well it
is in harmony with the reality of this nature.

(3) The sources and principles Of Akhlak in Other Religion

For this assignment, we have chosen Christianity to compare with Islam in terms of moral
principles.

CHRISTIAN
Christian morality is a set of moral standards based on the teachings of the Bible, especially
the teachings of Jesus (but Islam considers him as a prophet sent by God to Bani Israel) In
the Sermon on the Mount, for example, in Matthew chapters five and six, Jesus sets out a
whole new standard of moral behaviour for those who follow Him. Those who are Christians
follow the basic ethical principles of Christianity that are taught in the Bible. The four
Gospels taught that there are two moral principles that all others stem from. These are
loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as
yourself. Other Christian principles are derived from both the Old Testament and the New
Testament of the Christian Bible, including the Ten Commandments and the teachings of the
Apostle Paul. The basic principle of Christian morality is to love others, following the Golden
Rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. While loving others is the
central application of Christian morality, it's inseparable from its foundation, which is loving
God in Jesus Christ.

4) The Comparison between Principles of Akhlak In Islam and Morality in Christian

All Muslims and most Christians acknowledge that they believe in the same god even
though their understandings differ. Christians, however, believe in a triune God: God the
father, God the son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. Christianity and Islam have different
sacred scriptures. The sacred text of Christianity is the Bible while the sacred text of Islam is
the Quran. Muslims believe that Al-injil was distorted or altered to form the Christian New
Testament. Hence, the sources of Akhlak In islam are Quran, Hadith And Sunnati Rasulillah
while for Christian, the principles of morality is taken from The Bible. Besides, as I said
before, the crucial foundation of Akhlak in Islam is religious belief (Asas Al-I’tiqadi), which is
to believe in Allah S.W.T. (Al-iman Billah) , if we believe in the god who created us, we will
continue to do acts of worship and virtue to get his pleasure. We will also stay away from
immorality because we are sure that there are sins that bring punishment in the afterlife.
Unlike Christian, its basic principle of morality is to love others, following the Golden Rule of
doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. It is very different from Islamic
principles where Christians do not emphasize faith in God as the basic of morality, instead it
directly emphasizes the example of good morals. Nevertheless, logically we know that good
morals come from a good heart. To get a good heart, we must first believe in God who
created the heart so that we feel afraid to do ma’siah. With this, our hearts will tend to do
good things. As Islam emphasizes, all babies are born
in a pure nature, which is the Islamic nature.
5) Our Reaction to the sources and principles Of Morality in Islam and other religions

Based on our study, seems like Islam focuses on faith and belief (aqidah) as the backbone of
morality, while other religions emphasize good morals such as loving others and obey the
god rules. But overall, all religions call for goodness and reject evil. The reality is today, some
individuals do not want to follow the moral principles that have been outlined in their
religion because the nature of loving the world has become widespread. We need to realize
that this world is only temporary, so believing in Allah and the afterlife will save us from the
punishment in the future. If we have ever wondered why we get that sick feeling in the pit
of your stomach when we do something we know we shouldn’t, it is likely because our
moral principles. Everyone has these principles, but they can vary greatly from one person
to another. It can be helpful to explore our moral principles, as they determine many
aspects of your life and these morals have already been outlined by religion.