The Constitution of Ethics: Muhammad Abdullah Draz

About the author of The Moral Constitution (Dustur al-Akhlaq) 

Sheikh “Muhammad Abdullah Draz” was born in a village in the Kafr el-Sheikh Governorate in rural Egypt in 1894 CE, and was raised in a home of learning and piety. His father was a renowned jurist and linguist of broad culture who wrote notable commentaries on Imam al-Shatibi's “Al-Muwafaqat”. His grandfather, too, was an Azhari sheikh whose circle was attended by students of Islamic law seeking to benefit from his knowledge

About the book The Moral Constitution 

This book bears a full main title, “The Moral Constitution of the Quran: A Comparative Study of Theoretical Ethics in the Quran”, and a subtitle, “With an Appendix Classifying the Selected Verses That Make Up the Complete Constitution of Practical Ethics”. It is a translation of the thesis for which the late Islamic thinker Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Draz earned his international doctorate from the “Sorbonne” in France in 1950 CE. It was translated, annotated and textually verified by Dr. Abd al-Sabur Shahin, and reviewed by Dr. al-Sayyid Muhammad Badawi

This Arabic translation was published by “Mu'assasat al-Risala” and “Dar al-Buhuth al-Ilmiyya” and runs to 816 pages. The book consists of an introduction and five chapters, with the subject of each chapter treated in a general framework before being examined from the Quranic perspective

The introduction offers a general overview of the moral theory of the Holy Quran and a comparative study with some Western philosophical theories. The first chapter, “Obligation”, addresses the sources of moral obligation in Islamic law, and the second chapter, “Responsibility”, analyses the general idea of responsibility, the conditions of moral and religious responsibility, the personal nature of responsibility, its legal basis, freedom, and the social dimension of responsibility

The third chapter, “Sanction”, deals with the theory of reward and punishment from an ethical perspective, and the fourth chapter, “Intention and Motives”, deals with intention and the nature of the moral act. The fifth and final chapter, “Effort”, addresses the exertion of effort, its human value and its types. The general conclusion presents an integrated picture of the book

Key topics of The Moral Constitution

Obligation /Responsibility /Sanction /Divine Sanction / Intention and Motives / Effort /Individual Ethics /Arrogance, Vanity and Boastfulness /Family Ethics /Duties Between Spouses /Social Ethics /Ethics of the State