A Holistic View of Islamic Ethical Thought up to the 19th Century: Classifying the Literature Based on Topic-Issue (Maw???-Mas??il) Distinction

Abstract

In modern Arabic, Turkish and English studies on Islamic ethical thought, ethics (alakhl?q) is used as an umbrella term covering all literature in theoretical, practical, analytical, normative, and similar approaches, including ?d?b, sufism, philosophy, and theology. This usage has been commonly held. However, these studies do not properly explain what is or is not the scope of ethics, above all, according to which criteria the scope of ethics are determined. This essay challenges the generally accepted classifications of the literature in Islamic ethical thought and suggests another classification of that literature. Based on certain reasons, we have handled the literature in a way that covers the period from the beginning to the 19th century. This article ultimately questions the scope of the literature and highlights the need to conduct studies on Islamic ethical thought from a broader perspective. © 2021 Sociedad Medica de Santiago. All rights reserved.