Book Reviews 117 

Book Review 

Ethical Theories in Islam 

By Majid Fakhry. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991, 230 pp. 

The most striking element of Majid Fakhry's Ethical Theories in Islam
is its reminder of the intellectual and philosophical dynamism that charac­
terized Muslim scholarship during the late Umayyad and 'Abbasid peri­
ods. No discussion was too small or considered taboo. Rather, the search 
for truth took on many manifestations, ranging from the strict ethical logic 







120 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 13:1 

This simplified discussion gives just a taste of the complexity and vigor 
with which Muslims debated these issues that are recounted so well by 
Fakhry. Philosophic and religious ethics also receive major consideration. 
The philosophic impulse was given great support by those Greek ethical 
materials in wide circulation among Muslims of the ninth century. Such 
Greek authors as Galen, Prophyry. Aristotle, and others had a "direct 
impact on the moral philosophers and conditioned their views on the nature 
of moral activity, right and wrong, virtue, happiness, deliberation and 
choice, and related ethical questions." Anyone interested in summaries of 
the views of al Kindl, al Farab1, Ibn S1na, and Ibn Rushd will find Fakhry's 
work more user-friendly than the Encyclopedia lslamica. 

However, the depth of discussion of Muslim views during a time of 
great intellectual ferment begs the question, why then as opposed to now? 
Intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual introspection occur in some peri­
ods more often than others, and one cannot help but wonder about the his­
torical milieu in which these ethical and philosophical discussions took 
place. Certainly, there existed at that time a living concept of conununity 
(ummah) among Muslims throughout the expanse of Islamdom. Even the 
surviving Umayyad caliphate in Andalusian Spain looked east to the 
· Abbasids for intellectual and cultural trends. Yet, despite the security thus
afforded, there was great political ferment as first the Umayyads and then
the 'Abbasids faced the discontent of dispossessed Muslims.

Fakhry's work, however, creates more than a sense of nostalgia for the 
ethical discussions of Muslims long since dead, for the arguments and 
debates are still alive and remain very relevant to the contemporary world 
of Muslims and humanity. His book jogs the mind and encourages one to 
reparticipate in a discussion that is at once historical and contemporary. 

Amjad Atallah 
Vice President, Women for Women in Bosnia 

Alexandria, Virginia