The Concept of Equity in Islamic Ethics and its relation with the Golden Rule

The ethical teaching stating “treat other people in the same way in which you would like them to treat you” has been known as “equity” in Islam and “the Golden Rule” in the contemporary ethical systems. Despite of semantic similarity and pervasiveness of these two concepts in all domains of human behavior, there are ambiguities in regard to some aspects of the subject and its general scheme on the one hand, and on the other hand some conflicts and misunderstandings can be observed being still taken into account by the contemporary ethical system. Analysis of the findings suggest that the concept of “equity” is overlapped with “the Golden Rule” and having a systemic analysis on the common meaning of both i.e. having reasonable and legitimate expectations from self and others in the cases of being in similar assumed situations, an appropriate behavioral pattern can be proposed for individual and social lives.