Konfüçyüsçü Ahlak ile İslam Ahlakının Mukayesesi

Abstract

The moral behaviours which are personal and social manifestation of the

beliefs are as important as beliefs in religions. It can be argued that the primary

mission of the religions is to show people the way to live happily in this

world and to ensure continuity of the happiness in the afterlife. Even though

Islam and Confucianism differ from each other in their beliefs, their moral

systems are similar. The aim of this paper is to compare these two religions

with regard to their moral systems, aims, and their impact on the individual’s

personal and social life. We concluded that the moral values of the two religions

are substantially similar and social and political virtues exhibit partial differences.

Firstly, two moral systems have differences in deontology and sanction.

The fact that Islam is an divine religion and each moral action has an ethereal

consequence and sanction besides wordly consequence and sanction establishes

an important control mechanism on the behaviors of the pious person.

This exhibits itself as education adn social santion in Confucianism. The high

value assigned to the moral education by the Confucian moral teachings is an

advantage. The same emphasis on the education can be seen in Islam through

the Prophet’s exemplifying role. However, the texts do not clealy state how to

adapt thşs education to people in different stages of their development and

with different aptidutes. This was addressed through developing virtue ethics

based on Ancient Greek philosophy since the 8th century.

It can be observed that two moral teachings are similar in terms of the

personal virtues such as truthfulness, honesty, mercy, justice, generosity, humility,

contentment, forgiveness, and courage. Regarding the social and political

virtues such as prudence, kindness, and etiquette, Confucian moral is

more clear and explicit. The emphaty formularized as “wishing for others that

which you wish for yourself" is emphasized strongly in both Confucius’s and

Prophet Muhammad’s (saw) statements. While the Quran puts an emphasis

on the sincerity with an understanding of it as ikhlas, sincerity in personal

relationships are more prominent in Confucius’ sayings. Duties for parents

and other family members is important in both teachings. However the Confucian

moral teaching provides more clear and illustrative statements for virtues

related to etiquette such as poise and kindness.

The discussion on whether the good and bad are intrinsic qualities of

things or values assigned by the God’s commands is a challenging problem in

determining the roles and responsibilities of people in Islamic ethics. heless, the virtue ethics developed by the Muslim philosophers partially overcome

these challenges through making moral habits an educational subject

and placing happiness as aim. Viewing ethics as an real inherent human phenomenon

without transcendental connection in Confucian teaching provides

an advantage in terms of practicality. While Islam is a global divine religion,

it possesses some features of the cultural context it was first revealed and implemented.

The same can be said about Confucianism. By logical reasoning, it

can be argued that the differences between Islamic ethics and Confucian ethics

are influenced by these cultural features. In that case, an aspect might be

an advantage for one and disadvantage for the other.

Some concepts of the virtue ethics in Islamic thought developed by the

influence of philosophy can be found in Confucian ethics. This moral theory

includes elements that are not found in Islamic writing as it was influenced

by Ancient Greek and Eastern thoughts. Thus, the virtue ethics deveoped by

the Muslim philosophers has commonalities with Ancient Greek and Eastern

thoughts.

Keywords: Confucianism, Islam, Ethics, Education, Virtue