Islamic Ethics in Australian Muslim Everyday Life: A Shi’ite Perspective Mohamad Younes Master’s Thesis in Sociology Spring Term 2017 Humanities and Communication Arts Western Sydney University 1 17481784 Mohamad Younes 2 17481784 Mohamad Younes ABSTRACT Despite the strong emphasis on ethics within the Islamic tradition, Islamic ethics itself is scarcely represented as a discipline within academic scholarship (Ansari 1989). Even within this area, Islamic ethics have predominantly been studied from Sunni perspectives, with little attention being paid to Shi’ite or other minority understandings. This thesis will, therefore, use qualitative data collection methods of semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus groups, to sociologically study the perceptions, understandings, and applications of Islamic ethics in Australian Shi’ite Muslim everyday living. It will investigate the overarching understanding of Islamic ethics and its specific application in Australian Shi’ite Muslim context. The project's objective, therefore, is twofold: one to strengthen Islamic ethics as an independent discipline; and two to address the scant attention Shi’ite Islamic ethics has received in Islamic ethics scholarship generally. Conceptually, this project will contribute to the understanding of Islamic ethics through a particular analysis of Shi’ite Islamic ethics in an Australian Shi’ite context. This is significant as specific understandings of Islamic ethics in certain contexts help to explain how minority groups such as Shi’ite Muslims develop their own ethical standards to shape social relations in society. In addition, this thesis argues for Shi’ite Islamic ethics to be highly Imamate based; that is, very reliant on the actions and sayings of 12 divinely guided Imams (leaders). Achieving such goals will enhance the overall conceptualisation and understanding of the complexities of Islamic ethics in contemporary Muslim contexts. Keywords: Shi’ite, Islamic ethics, Ethics, Australian Muslim. 3 17481784 Mohamad Younes Acknowledgements This study is the result of a research project conducted for my master’s thesis in Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University. This thesis is written as part of Western Sydney University’s two-year Master of Research course. After finishing my Bachelor of Business and Commerce degree with a sub major in Islamic studies, I decided to pursue a Master of Research course. Now, almost two years later, I have completed my master’s thesis. When first confronted with my thesis topic of Islamic ethics, several questions crossed my mind. What is Islamic ethics all about? Are Islamic ethics different to secular ethics? Does Islamic ethics have a direct link with the behaviour of Muslims in the West? Eventually the questions expanded and became more specific to studying and understanding the level of understanding from the Shi’ite Muslim perspective. It was triggered by a scanty literature on Islamic ethics from the Shi’ite Muslim point of view. Being a Shi’ite Muslim myself, I wanted to know more about it, and what would be a better manner than writing a thesis on the subject? This master’s thesis would not be accomplished without the support of some important people. I would like to thank Dr. Jan Ali for his excellent guidance in both the master's thesis and bachelor degree phases of my studies, Dr. Jack Tsoutsas for his awesome guidelines for writing, and useful feedback in all aspects of my time in university, and Dr. Alex Norman for providing me with great comments and strategies to improve my study. I would like to thank my co-students, with whom I learnt and shared valuable information. And finally, a special thanks to all my family and friends for the support they gave me to make my student life a really great experience. 4 17481784 Mohamad Younes CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 7 1.1 Secular Ethics vs Islamic Ethics .............................................................................. 9 1.1.2 Ethics and Moral Philosophy .................................................................. 11 1.1.3 Good and Bad ........................................................................................... 12 1.2 Early Developments: Essential Values ................................................................ 14 1.2.1 Shi’ite Ethics .............................................................................................. 14 2 FOUNDATIONAL BASIS ............................................................................................. 16 2.1 Islamic Principles .................................................................................................... 16 2.1.1 Sources of Ethics (Qur’an & Sunnah) ................................................................... 17 3 TAQWA (GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS)........................................................................... 19 3.1 An Ethical way of Life is Islamic .......................................................................... 19 3.1.1 Roles in a Muslim Society ..................................................................................... 21 3.1.2 Legal/Intellectual Emphasis on Ethics................................................................ 21 3.1.3 Theological Traditions ........................................................................................... 22 4 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ISLAMIC ETHICS ............................................................... 23 Rationalist and Traditionalist ............................................................................... 23 4.1 Traditional Contributions ..................................................................................... 23 4.1.1 Sunni Muslim Approach ...................................................................................... 25 4.1.2 Shi’ite Muslim Perspective ................................................................................... 26 4.1.3 Diversity in Shi’ism .......................................................................................... 29 4.1.4 Modernisation Islamic Ethics .............................................................................. 30 5 DISCUSSION ON ISLAMIC ETHICS ........................................................................ 31 5.1 Minding the Gap in Islamic Ethics ....................................................................... 31 6 RESEARCH METHOD ................................................................................................. 39 6.1 Qualitative Data Collection ................................................................................... 39 5 17481784 Mohamad Younes 7 PARADIGM OF SHI’A ISLAMIC ETHICS ............................................................... 42 7.1 Cultivation of Character Framework .................................................................. 42 8 RESEARCH FINDINGS & RESULTS ......................................................................... 48 8.1 Shi’ite Muslims ..................................................................................................... 49 9 DATA INTERPRETATION & ANALYSIS ................................................................ 52 9.1 Reliability and Validity ............................................................................................. 52 9.1.1 Limitations ............................................................................................................... 53 9.1.2 The (Qualitative Method) ..................................................................................... 53 Principle ethical teachings within Islam ............................................................ 66 Shi'a/ Sunni Differences ........................................................................................ 71 10 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 73 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................... 75 APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................... 83 6 17481784 Mohamad Younes 1 INTRODUCTION Amongst the family of monotheistic faiths such as Judaism and Christianity, Islam is the youngest of these major world religions. With its inceptions in Saudi Arabia over 1400 years ago, Islam has expanded encompassing over 1.8 billion adherents, virtually living in all corners of the globe (Lipka 2016). Although most of Islam's adherents, known as Muslims, are located throughout Africa and Asia, there has been a significant growth in Muslim populations living in Australia, Europe and the Americas, or what is collectively known as the West in the twenty first century (Siddiqui 2012). Recently, the diverse communities constituting the worldwide Muslim community have expressed a need, in differing ways, to link their Islamic heritage to points of cultural self- identification (Peters 2015). Where this sensation has grown to be related to internal and external conflict, it has generated a huge amount of confusion and misconceptions with respect to the role of Islam. In order to highly value the variety of Islam's legacy of ethical thought and life, it is potentially vital to develop sociological insights as to how the range of Islamic esteems and crucial ethical presumptions have been fashioned in the progression of Muslim