Virtue Ethics: A Quranic Perspective

Virtue ethics is a moral theory that is particularly focused on the agent’s character and characteristics. Virtue ethics is contrasted with act-based theories (deontological and teleological theories) . It seems necessary to identify the Quranic perspective on normative moral theories, since the Quran is the most important source of Islamic beliefs and acts. Thus, in this paper, we seek to precisely formulate virtue ethics and its properties, and then look for the Quranic view of such ethics. The view gleaned from the bulk of Quranic evidence is an endorsement of virtue ethics with an orientation to the subject’s virtue (agent-based), but no evidence can be found for virtue-based, subject-based approaches. Quranic ethics is very close to virtue ethics because it assigns a central place to one’s heart and soul as opposed to external acts, and faith as opposed to righteous actions. Moreover, it offers a “role-model” (uswa) as the criterion for morality.