Jihadists “Wrong Themselves” Morally: An Islamic-Aristotelian Interpretation

Authors : Norman Kenneth SWAZO

Pages : 7-40

Doi:10.12730/13091719.2018.91.172

View : 34 | Download : 11

Publication Date : 2018-06-13

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Transnational terrorism qua “radical Islamism” presents questions pertinent to moral philosophy. Aristotelian ethics and Islamic ethics insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(ʿilm al-akhlāq); articulated comparatively by George Hourani are here engaged. Hourani questions whether “jihadists” are morally blameworthy in the Qurʾānic sense of “wronging themselves” insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(ẓalamtum anfusakum);. The distinction is important because: insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(a); religious doctrines supposedly authorizing jihadist violence do not account for the distinction, even though insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(b); there is reason in Islamic ethics to do so. I then relate Hourani’s assessment to Ibn Rushd’s discussion of good and evil. I conclude that Hourani’s interpretation provides a reasonably defensible account enabling a moral evaluation of jihadist actions. This theoretical account integrating Aristotelian and Islamic ethics is illustrated by an example from recent police action in Bangladesh.
Keywords : Aristotle, Hourani, jihād, terrorism, radical Islam, Islamic ethics

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