Joveini's Ethical Theory in Dependence of Ethics on Religion

Among the Muslim scholars the early Asharites especially Imam-Al-Haramain Joveini may be regarded as the exponents of the causal interpretation of the theory of divine command concerning ethics. According to Joveini, the rightness or wrongness of any action can be accounted for by the divine commands or prohibitions; and in fact, a given action is good if God commands it, and bad if God prohibits it. Although the divine command theory in general and its causal interpretation in particular include useful insights, it is subject to sever criticisms which will be discussed in this paper.