This course covers key concepts, theoretical principles, and doctrines of Islamic Ethics. The course examines how these principles and their applications can address contemporary issues related to various fields including finance and business, social and political affairs, inter-cultural issues, as well as biomedical sciences. By the end of the course, students will work on developing a framework for ethical reasoning around a specific ethical dilemma, as part of the training in problem-solving.

The course teaches students how to work with the major sources and methodological approaches in ethics research. The particular focus is on research-based writing. After situating Islamic studies and ethics in the broader context of academic research, basic research skills will be reviewed and applied. The course provides an overview of methodological approaches and major sources on ethics and leads students to develop a research proposal on ethics.

This course provides a foundation in Scriptural ethics by examining various approaches to the two major scriptural sources in Islam, namely the “Qur’an” and the “Hadith”. In Quranic ethics, attention will be given to morality in Quranic discourse and commentaries. As for Sunna, morality in canonical collections of Hadith will be examined. The relationship between these two sources of ethics is analyzed through the lens of classical and modern scholarship.

This course presents a comprehensive survey of ethics in the Islamic theology and philosophy. The main focus here is to examine the anthological and epistemological questions related to ethics. This course covers different theological approaches to the human action, obligation (taklīf) and ethical judging. In the philosophical part the course covers the main Greek ethical themes and its effect on the classical Islamic philosophy and the later developments. In this course students will get knowledge about the history, concepts, doctrines, and philosophers in the Islamic tradition. It is not only discusses the classical period but also on the modern and contemporary trends of moral philosophy.

This course covers reasoning in the Islamic tradition, covering shifts from discipline-centered reasoning to interdisciplinary reasoning. It examines the principles and priorities of ethical reasoning, the arguments for a goal-oriented or a value-oriented approach to ethics, the contemporary emphasis on the context of the ethicist and reconfiguring the sources of knowing good and bad. The course examines how to critically analyze argumentation in ethical judgments in applied case studies.

This course is a rigorous engagement with the nascent field of Islamic Bioethics. On the one hand, the attempt here is to do service to the field of Bioethics by maintaining the rich meaning of the term bioethics - an ethics concerned with bios (literally life). We examine biomedical sciences and the value systems that shape and guide the scientific enterprise within the larger context of planetary health, climate change and environmental concerns. On the other hand, this broad approach to Bioethics is linked with the richness of the Islamic tradition, according to which ethical questions and dilemmas should ideally be approached at their macro levels and through the prism of communitarian and responsibility-oriented, rather than individualistic, perspectives.

This course analyzes the relationship between Islam and migration in an ethical and contemporary context. Two semi-autonomous areas will be explored, namely: 1) Forced Migration (displaced, asylum seekers and refugees) and 2) Voluntary Migration (economic migrants). Theoretically, the course will compare migration discourses in Islam with modern western theories of migration with particular focus on international human and labor rights conventions. Students will be given applied case studies to analyze and provide innovative solutions that include gender-based problems of migration.

The course covers both theoretical and applied ethics in business, and a critical analysis comparing Western business ethics, Islamic tradition and contemporary field of Islamic economics. First, the general conceptual field asks: "What is Islamic in Islamic finance, Islamic economics and Islamic banking?" Second, the ethical foundations of business, based upon perspectives from Islamic law and the new field called business ethics. The third dimension will challenge students to apply the ethical principles to practical applications in individual and organizational behavior from the region.

This course will introduce the multiple dimensions of Islamic ethics in politics, peace and war from a comparative perspective. It covers theoretical and applied aspects while addressing historical and contemporary political values. The first part discusses issues related to state and society, including the public good, political legitimacy and good governance. The second part locates Islamic political ethics within the broader global context, shedding light on the borders of the Muslim moral community with the challenge of consistency, humanism and ethical pluralism. The third part focuses on the ethics of peace and war in historical and contemporary discourses.

This course will familiarize students with the principles of gender research. It contains four parts. 1. Feminist Theory: from liberal feminism to Marxist, post-structural and post-colonial feminism; feminist epistemology and its explanatory power. 2. Masculinity Theory: covering the theorization of hegemonic masculinity and subsequent critiques and modifications. Specific focus will be on masculinity in the Muslim world. 3. Islam & Gender as an ethical approach: the Islamic perception of gender and related concepts such as matrimony personal status and equality. 4. Contemporary Gender Issues in the Islamic world: ethics and feminism, a woman’s right to her own body, gender bias in politics, law, media, and empowerment policies

This course provides the students interested in Islamic Ethics with the necessary knowledge and skills to critically engage with the global bioethical discourse on pandemic including covid-19. It will be divided into five main parts: (1) historical overview of the ethical discussions on early plagues, (2) the types of ethical approaches and discourses on covid-19, (3) key ethical issues, (4) critical reading of relevant texts and (5) writing a research paper.

This course focuses on the moral questions raised by Artificial Intelligence (AI). It will be of interest for a wide range of students who are curious to understand how the rich Islamic moral tradition engages with global ethical discussions on cutting-edge technologies. It comprises five main parts: (1) Prelude: Artificial Intelligence (AI) & AI moral discourse (2) Governing policies and principles (3) Philosophical foundations & challenges (4) Main issues, approaches and applied fields, and (5) Research Paper.

Tutorial students will have one-on-one in-depth supervised reading of key and impactful writings (classics) in the field of Islamic Ethics. The program will make use of the research output and publications of CILE, including the Journal of Islamic Ethics and the book series Studies in Islamic Ethics, giving students access to (and reviews of) the key publications in the field. The tutorial may be used as a remedial program to assist students who are having difficulties in keeping up with readings. It may also be used to assist students in thesis-related problems.

The Internship is a program tailored for the students’ future work-plans. Students will benefit from existing approved institutions that may later provide them with employment opportunities after graduation.