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

Yıl 2018, Cilt: 9 Sayı: 1, 7 - 40, 13.06.2018

Norman Kenneth Swazo

https://doi.org/10.12730/13091719.2018.91.172

Öz

Transnational terrorism qua “radical Islamism” presents questions pertinent to moral philosophy. Aristotelian ethics and Islamic ethics (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” (ẓalamtum anfusakum). The distinction is important because: (a) religious doctrines supposedly authorizing jihadist violence do not account for the distinction, even though (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.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Aristotle, Hourani, jihād, terrorism, radical Islam, Islamic ethics

Kaynakça

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