The purpose of Islamic morality is to please Allah. Islam is
submission to Allah and a Muslim is someone who has submitted to Allah. A
Muslim lives his life in a way that pleases Allah. Allah has communicated his wishes via the Quran. Allah’s guidance
by which a Muslim should live his life is revealed in the Quran. For a Muslim,
being a good person, and living a moral life means following the Quran. The
more closely a Muslim follows the Quran, the better a Muslim he is and hence
the better he is as a person, according to Islam.
A Muslim can therefore do whatever is permitted in the Quran
and do nothing that is forbidden in the Quran. This makes moral decisions very
simple.
Actions have consequences. All human actions have some
impact on the person undertaking the action, and in many cases on those other
than the person undertaking the action. The Quran forbids many things which have negative consequences.
For example, drinking is forbidden in Islam and has negative consequences on
people’s behaviour and health. Stealing is forbidden and it deprives others of
their possessions.
The morality of the Quran, which is the same thing as Allah’s
will, appears to be conducive to the benefit of human beings. The rationale
appears to be that Allah is wiser than humans in determining what is good for
humans and therefore it is better to follow Allah than to device a system of
morality based on human understanding.
There are many things which are permitted in the Quran which
are harmful to some humans. For example, it is justified for a Muslim to attack
a non Muslim society or government and make war upon it regardless of whether
that society or government has harmed Muslims. It is also permitted during war
to kill captured enemies and to take women from the enemy by force against
their own will. It is also justified to plunder the enemy of his goods.
As these things are permitted in the Quran, they are the
will of Allah and therefore cannot be questioned by a Muslim. No one has the
right to consider whether there is a better morality as this would be to seek
to usurp Allah.
In addition, there are many other actions which are simply
not discussed in the Quran which, not being forbidden are assumed to be
permitted in Islam.
In Buddhism, the purpose of morality is to reduce and ultimately to
end, suffering to oneself and to others. Actions as well as words and even
thoughts should have the well being of others and oneself as their goal.
In Buddhism it is recognised that all living beings have the
capacity to suffer and therefore one should not harm other beings. This
includes not only non Buddhists but also non humans. For human compassion
should extend to animals too as their capacity to suffer is as great as our
own.
Guiding our actions on this principle prevents us from
undertaking actions which might cause harm to others. It also will reduce the
chance that we will act upon some other agenda, for example personal greed, while
conning ourselves into thinking that we are acting in a moral way. It also enables
us to guide ourselves through the various situations that arise upon which explicit
guidance has not been given or is not available.
