Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'anIn the Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'án Toshihiko Izutsu analyzes the guiding spirit of the Islamic moral code, the basic ethical relationship of man to God. Izutsu asserts that, according to the Qur'anic conception, God is of an ethical nature and acts upon man in an ethical way. The resulting implications for man are enormous, requiring devotion not merely to God but to living one's life ethically. Izutsu shows that for the Qur'an our ethical response to God's actions is religion itself; it is at the same time both ethics and religion. Izutsu explores these themes by employing ethnolinguistics, a theory of the interrelations between linguistic cultural patterns, to analyse the semantic structure of major concepts in the Quar'an. Islam, which arose in the seventh century, represents one of the most sweeping religious reforms ever to appear in the East. The Quar'an shows in vividly concrete terms how time-honoured tribal norms came into bloody conflict with new ideals of life, and finally yielded to the rising power. This transitional epoch is of particular importance in the whole of Islamic thought, a time during which the key terms of a traditionally fixed system of values were transformed in their connotative structure, modified in their combinations, and finally integrated into an entirely different system. Originally published in 1959 as The Structure of the Ethical Terms in the Koran and revised under the current title in 1966, this 2002 reprint makes this classic work of Islamic studies once again available. |
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ahwa al-Bayḍāwī alms Apostle areté arrogance astray attitude basic Bedouin believe birr Chapter characteristic chastisement commit concerning concrete conduct context covenant cried lies ḍalāl Day of Judgment deeds denotes desert dhanb disbelieve divine ethical terms ethico-religious evil example fact faith fasiq fear fisq following passage forgive Gehenna generosity give God's godfearing gulm haqq ḥarām haughtiness hearts hilm human Ibn Ishaq iftira īmān important Islām Islamic ithm Jahiliyah kāfir Kafirs khayr kufr language ma'ruf manifest matter meaning mercy moral Moses mu'min munafiq munkar mushrik Muslims musrif nature naught nifaq niggardliness one's pagan Arabs pious polytheism pre-Islamic present world Prophet Qur'anic conception reality reference religion religious remarked Revelation root Ṣāliḥ Ṣāliḥāt sayyi'ah semantic category semantic structure sense signs sodomy soul Surah synonymous takdhīb taqwa thee things thou Muḥammad transgress tribal tribe true Truth turn unto verb Verily verse virtue wealth Whoso word worship wrong zālim zulm