Adibah Abdul Rahim

Understanding Islamic Ethics and Its Significance on the Character Building

The most critical challenge facing Muslim today is the lack of the spiritual ethical dimension of life, and one of the most powerful means to overcome this problem is the adherence to the code of ethics. This paper attempts at clarifying the concept of Islamic ethics as a basic pillar for a healthy society. It explains about the need of ethics for the development of individual and society by highlighting its definitions, and its significance on the character building. The author tries to present ethics as the counter part of other sciences, such as, law, politics, science, economics, and others for such sciences become soulless or insignificant if detached from ethics. The paper concludes that Muslim character should develop along with Islamic ethics and its application into daily affairs of Muslims’ lives should be given its due attention.

Al-Faruqi’s Views on Selected Topics of Ilm al-Kalam

The study of Ilm al-kalam is still relevant and meaningful in the modern period of time. It is not outdated rather it has gone through various developments throughout the history in order to cope up with the needs of the age. This paper studies a contemporary approach to ilm al-kalam by a contemporary theologian, Ismail Raji al-Faruqi. It examines al-Faruqi’s distinct approach in comparison to a classical position of ilm al-kalam. In doing so, the study focuses on selected theological issues, namely, the relationship between reason and revelation, the principle of causality, and freewill of choice. After examining those theological issues, the study found that al-Faruqi revitalized the classical position of ilm al-kalam in some respects, thus, presented it in a new dimension. It is observed that al-Faruqi’s approach to Ilm al-Kalam is very intelligible to the modern mind and to a modern age. Therefore, this study acknowledged his vital contributions in the development of ilm al-kalam.