Moral Philosophy

This article traces the emergence of ethical thinking (al-tafkīr al-akhlāqī) in Egypt since the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century and seeks to identify the motives and contexts of the resurgence of the field of ethics. This era is informed by its connection in Arab thought to the nahda, the so-called Arab Awakening, and, equally, its coincidence with the movement for the revival of Arab tradition and its dissemination. A great number of studies have examined the reform movement in the

The practice of independent legal reasoning (ijtihād) is a core tool for achieving the moral mission of the discipline of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh); it generates juristic rulings that help people become morally committed humans. Without ijtihād, it would be inconceivable that Islamic divine law could achieve its moral mission in every time and every place.

The