When put into effect, moral principles
encourage kindness, values, trust, and decent behavior among members of society. They provide a place for in-depth discussion of certain ethical quandaries. At times, ethical standards clash with theological doctrines. The following scholarly study investigates some of the misunderstandings between Islamic ideas and moral values espoused in the Muslim religious belief system.
Muslims worldwide share some religious traditions and beliefs
Certain Islamic ideas, such as jihad, are mixed up with moral values. The Quran offers a definition of the jihad concept which is manipulated by terrorists who claims to be of the Islamic faith in committing terrorism. According to the Quran meaning, jihad describes the struggle against oneself and money for Allah's cause (Sageman, 2011). Allah's cause means upholding the teachings and commandments of Allah in attempts to condemn the evil. Therefore, jihad, as a cause of Allah is the attempt to support his ways along with laws. Other interpretations of jihad include the struggle to improve and fight against the internal and external aspects of persons as well as evil in the society. The jihad concept emphasizes fighting the injustices, evil and wrongdoings using one's power of hand through actions, tongue through speech or in any case with the heart through prayers.
The terrorists along with some Islamic governments have taken jihad to extremes
Such people believe that executing the non-believers is acceptable and it is one of Allah's sanctions. The terrorists who continue to wage war on nations all over the world claim that the concepts of jihad guide their actions and behaviors in all spheres of life. They do not resist their compulsions to kill the non-Muslim communities and perceive their actions to be right since they are wiping out evil and injustices from the world. The terrorist asserts that their acts of waging jihad are a way of seeking mercy from Allah for themselves as well as their families enabling them to enter paradise without experiencing the Islamic grave tortures directly (Sageman, 2011). Such practices are unethical and murdering human beings is unacceptable even in the laws of various nations.
The fundamental ethical reasoning calls for critically analyzing the ethical dilemma through the application of the moral principles (Vaughn, 2015)
For any reason to be considered moral, it should encompass the mental tasks. In the case of jihad, we should find two types of acts. The first one is those that promote the well-being of others. The teaching of the jihad based on the Quran promotes the Muslim faith by enabling them to fight the injustices and evils in Allah's cause. On the other hand, the jihad concepts are causing harm to other individuals who are non-Muslims. The terrorists use the ideas to justify their actions of waging wars on nations and killing non-Muslims whom they term as non-believers and therefore, sinners. The death of innocent people strengthens the critics claim that the concept is unethical.
Conclusion
Conclusively, certain beliefs and practices of religion including Islam, Judaism, Christianity and Hinduism may be acceptable to the followers of such beliefs but conflict with the ethical principles. The jihad concept aims at enabling the Muslims to lead a life sin free life by eliminating the evils and injustices around them using the power of actions, speech or even prayers. Nevertheless, terrorist use the concept to justify their actions. They claim by killing the non-Muslims, they will earn a direct entry to paradise and avoid the grave tortures. Ethical reasoning enables us to analyze the situation to avoid rational and biased judgment critically.
References
Sageman, M. (2011). Leaderless jihad: Terror networks in the twenty-first century. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Vaughn, L. (2015). Doing ethics: Moral reasoning and contemporary issues. WW Norton & Company.