A Comparative Study of Values in Islam and Liberalism and Its Implications for Moral Education

Ethics is one of the fundamental components of strength of the human societies. Furthermore, the moral stability of every society depends on the axiological system which governs it. The present paper, which is a kind of qualitative research, is a comparative study of the concept of values in two important intellectual schools, i.e. Islam and liberalism. Since the theoretical principles of liberal anthropology are based on humanism in the period which followed the Renaissance and enlightenment era, such values as individualism, freedom of the individual, equality, tolerance, and democracy are among the fundamental values of liberal school. To the contrary, in Islam, whose anthropology is based on "innate disposition", "rationalism" and "innate dignity", the main values are God-orientation, social and spiritual freedom, justice, tolerance and theocracy. To sum up, although there are superficial similarities between Islam and liberalism regarding some values, the God- oriented nature of Islam and human-oriented nature of liberalism has widened the differences between these two schools in as far as values and moral education are concerned.