Islamic Moral Doctrines as Discussed by al-Shahrastānī

Maróth, Miklós (2026) Islamic Moral Doctrines as Discussed by al-Shahrastānī. ACTA ORIENTALIA ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARUM HUNGARICAE, 79 (1). pp. 169-186. ISSN 0001-6446

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Abstract

The article examines the moral teachings of the religion of Islam, Islamic rational theology, and Arab phi- losophers following the guidance of al-Shahrastānī. The paper concludes that religious doctrine is based on interpreting revealed texts ( bayān ). Human actions have no intrinsic moral value, it depends on divine will revealed in the sacred texts. Rational theology, on the other hand, regards revealed texts as signs from which the human intellect must deduce the divine intention using the sign syllogisms ( istidlāl ) of the Greek Epi- curean and Sceptic philosophers, adapted to the needs of Islamic theology. Conclusions remained within the framework of the system of the Greek Stoic philosophers. Philosophers writing in Arabic, following the Aristotelian tradition, based their ethical system on the moral value of actions as interpreted by human rea- son relying on categorical syllogisms. The doctrine of veritas duplex provided a common frame to the three different and sometimes contradictory moral systems.

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