The Ontological Realm of the Moral Agent Responsibility

Apart from the conditions for moral responsibility and the normative question regarding the relationship between this type of responsibility and the determination and necessity of the pre-eternal cause or the a priori and infallible divine knowledge, which has been one of the most interesting and challenging topics of moral philosophy in recent centuries, the scope of such responsibility and its foundation are among the key issues in this field. This paper attempts to investigate the scope of the responsibility of moral agent in Islamic perspective by relying on the analysis of religious doctrines. The moral responsibility of man is organized based on the servitude of man, and its broad realm extends so much in the universe that, on the one hand, it includes the obligations and duties of the moral agent before God and his obligations and prohibitions imposed by him, and on the other hand, it indicates the responsibility of man to himself and to the smallest and most hidden intents, thoughts, suppositions and beliefs, feelings and emotions, actions derived from one’s emotions or beliefs and, ultimately, to the other creatures around him.