Imam Al-Ghazali’s Communal and Consumptive Ethics and Its Signidicance to a Contemporary and Sustainable Society

Abstract

Islam contains a general code of conduct without any disagreement. Islam, as both a religion and way of life, also encompasses all religious issues and affairs affecting human’s life is also a fact unchallenged by those of consummate minds. One important aspect of all facets of Islamic discussions, that upon which all arguments sprout, and agreements are either diverged and/or reached, that which for its effectiveness also relies on intellectual foundation, is al-Akhlaq (the Ethics). Ethic cum conduct is pertinent in Islamic Shar’iah, Law, regulations, and legislation. Communal dealings is deem important in Islam and so is the communal root, the family of individuals. Charity, they say, begins at home and as such consumptive ethics is pertinent to maintaining the charity. There are ethics connected to what is consumed, how it is consumed, the quantity and manner in consumption, as well as guidelines in eating together. This paper focuses mainly on al-Ghazali’s interpretation of communal consumptive ethics in his magnum-opus Ihya’ ‘ulum al-Din. It is the aim of the paper to expatiate the roles communal consumption ethics play in maintaining a contemporary and sustainable society. The study theoretically employs qualitative methods, central to library approach, in collecting data for the study, and an analytical style in analyzing the collected data. The study concludes and maintains that communal consumptive ethics is one of the cornerstones from which a sustainable society emerges.