Where does our morality come from in Islam?
From what I understand — and I think I may be mistaken here, which is why I'm asking — it seems that there are two views. One view says that morality comes entirely from Allah, and all our morals are based on the Qur'an and Sunnah. Without them, there would be no such thing as good or bad, because — according to this view — we wouldn't have any sense of moral purpose if we didn't believe in the Qur'an or Sunnah.
The confusion I have with this view is: What about the fitrah? According to Ibn Taymiyyah, we have an innate sense of good and bad. But if good and bad are based entirely on the Shariah, doesn't that mean every aspect of Shariah is innately ingrained in us? Even things like not eating pork or lowering one’s gaze?
The second view is that morality is innate, and we can reason about right and wrong even without divine revelation. The issue with this, though, is that it seems to fall into the “is–ought” fallacy — the idea that just because something is a certain way, that doesn’t mean it ought to be.
If we don't have divine revelation, how do we rationally determine what is good or bad? For example, how do we know that harm is bad unless we already know it stops us from reaching an ultimate goal in life?
Asked by Ihsan
(11 rep)
Aug 1, 2025, 07:40 PM
Last activity: Aug 16, 2025, 12:41 PM
Last activity: Aug 16, 2025, 12:41 PM