Introduction : Ḥadīth and Ethics

This edited volume addresses the link between ḥadīth (Prophetic reports) and ethics, or what can be termed as “ḥadīth-based ethics.” Despite ḥadīth (or Sunna) historically being the second normative source in Islam after the Qurʾān, this topic has not received sufficient attention in the contemporary scholarship on Islamic ethics. Indeed, ḥadīth played a key role in the development of Islamic thought and in forming ʿulūm al-sharīʿa (Islamic sciences), as has been noted by some contemporary scholars. This volume introduces ḥadīth-based ethics as a sub-discipline of Islamic ethics and fills the gap within the scholarship on Islamic ethics and ḥadīth studies since one of its key characteristics is applying an interdisciplinary approach to both ḥadīth and ethics.

Approaching ḥadīth as a reference for ethics reflects the intensity of the ethical content contained in the Prophetic traditions and practices. To do so, one can distinguish between two levels of analysis. At the first level, the Prophetic Sunna is approached as a revealed reference or an exemplary application of the revelation. At the second level, the Sunna is approached as a historical reference for the ethics that prevailed in the formative period of Islamic history.

Other Information

Published in: Ḥadīth and Ethics through the Lens of Interdisciplinarity
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
See chapter on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004525931_002