Principles of the Ethics of Servitude in Uṣūl al-Kāfi

The collection of innate attributes, manners of behavior, and the rules that regulate the relation of man to God is known as ethics of servitude, which comprise of both virtues and vices.Ethics of servitude contains fundamental principles that if man’s relation to God would be based on its positive and value-aspects, it is considered as virtue and leads to one’s happiness and perfection; but if it would be based on its negative dimensions, i.e. counter-value bases, it is regarded as vice that leads him toward decline and downfall.In the present article, the most fundamental infrastructures of ethics of servitude have been examined in two parts of values and counter-values and with reference to the traditions related in Uṣūl al-Kāfī it is clarified that achieving true happiness is feasible only through approximation to God and establishing a relationship based on the doctrinal bases introduced in Islamic traditions.