conducted in the marketplace. Alongside this, the
juridical construction of morality, there was also
a culture of refined behavior (adab) that shaped
the ethical outlook of urban Muslims. This was
expressed in writings that set forth the virtues for
different classes and groups to honor, including
the ulama, rulers, bureaucrats, merchants, and
craftsmen.
Moral philosophy was an important subject
for Muslim intellectuals, even if it did not have
equal weight with sharia and fiqh in the eyes of
the ulama. The scholars who contributed to this
area of ethics during the Middle Ages were Abu
Yusuf Yaacub al-Kindi (d. 870), Abu Bakr Muham-
mad al-Razi (also known as Rhazes, d. ca. 925),
abU nasr al-Farabi (also known as Alfarabius, d.
950), and abU ali al-hUsayn ibn sina (also known
as Avicenna, d. 1037), mUhammad ibn rUshd (also
known as Averroës, d. 1198), and Nasir al-Din
Tusi (d. 1198). Perhaps the most noteworthy of
all were Miskawayh (d. 1040), the Persian author
of Refinement of Morality; abU hamid al-ghazali
(d. 1111), Persian mystic and author of Revival of
the Religious Sciences; and the Andalusian man of
letters ali ibn hazm (d. 1064). Originally sparked
by the rationalist theology of the Mutazila in
the eighth century and further influenced by
Aristotelian ethics, this area of Muslim scholarly
discussion declined after the 12th century, but it
experienced revived interest among Muslims in
the 19th and 20th centuries.
Today Islamic ethics and morality are receiv-
ing close scrutiny in Muslim lands and beyond
as never before. The encounters of traditional
Islamic moral laws and values with modern secu-
lar laws and values have raised urgent questions
about whether and how the sharia in whole or in
part requires preservation, reform, adaptation, or
rejection. Respect for hUman rights, individual-
ism, religious freedom, and women’s rights has
caused Muslims to search their ethical heritage to
find where there is compatibility and where there
is not. Violent actions performed in the name
of Islam against public officials and civilians by
militant organizations have given added urgency
to this search. While it is true that many Mus-
lims have condemned violent acts in the name
of religion, they have also sought to make moral
arguments in favor of violence (Jihad) and revolu-
tion in the face of oppression, tyranny, and attacks
against core beliefs and practices. As in the past,
given the many ways in which Muslims under-
stand and practice their religion, views on these
and many other issues diverge widely within the
worldwide Muslim community.
See also abortion; crime and pUnishment;
cUstomary laW; Fat e; hisba; islamism; mUtazili
school; sUicide; Women.Further reading: Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari,
Imam Bukhari’s Book of Muslim Morals and Manners.
Translated by Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo (Alexandria, Va.:
Al-Saadawi Publications, 1997); Michael Cook, Forbid-
ding Wrong in Islam: An Introduction (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 2003); Frederick M. Denny,
“Ethical Dimensions of Islamic Ritual Law.” In Religion
and Law: Biblical-Judaic and Islamic Perspectives, edited
by Edwin B. Firmage, Bernard G. Weiss, and John W.
Welch, 199–210 (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns,
1990); Richard G. Hovannisian, ed., Ethics in Islam
(Malibu, Calif.: Undena, 1985); Toshihiko Izutsu, Eth-
ico-Religious Concepts in the Quran (Montreal: McGill
University Press, 1966); Gary E. Kessler, Philosophy of
Religion: Toward a Global Perspective (Belmont, Calif.:
Wadsworth Publishing, 1999); Kevin Reinhart, Before
Revelation: The Boundaries of Muslim Moral Thought
(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995).Europe
Although often misperceived as alien to Europe,
Islam has had a long and varied presence in that
part of the world. It first entered Europe with the
Arab and berber armies that conquered the Iberian
Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) from the
Goths in 711. Muslims later entered Gaul but suf-
fered defeat at Poitiers in 732 and in the Pyrenees
passes in 748. Successive Islamic dynasties ruledEurope 217 J