Course Background

Darul Qasim College’s purpose is to facilitate learning and teaching from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.  Within the context of this purpose, Shaykh Mohammad Amin Kholwadia has developed courses in bioethics, tech-ethics, and legal ethics and has created a unique and vibrant academic space where professionals and ʿulamāʾ can work together in answering some of the most pressing questions in these respective fields.  Faculty, scholars, and professionals have worked together on various projects, including the upcoming publication of a book on ethics that will be applicable to all fields. 

Courses in ethics offered at the college are designed to furnish students with an Islamic framework to approach ethical issues, have the tools to think Islamically within their professions, and consider how Islamic principles and practice can effectively add value to their numerous fields of expertise and even perhaps provide alternative paradigms.  Islamic intellectual history shows us that our civilizational values have always offered profound insights that have improved the quality of life for all in this mundane life.

Course Objective

Through the lens of a Sunni Islamic framework, students will approach issues of ethics and develop the tools to think Islamically within their own professions and fields of study.  The course is designed around two semesters of engagement with traditional, Islamic scholarly texts alongside a discussion-based approach to engaging the subject of Islamic Ethics.  Academics, researchers, policy makers and professionals in fields related to healthcare, law, or technology may find the most benefit from this course.  

Semester one of study begins with IE101.  This  course module offers a unit on the epistemological, ontological, and creedal (ʿaqīdah) foundations that are necessary to understand Islamic Ethics.  Sessions will cover the history, organization, and sources of Islamic law (fiqh) and the four madhahib.

Semester two of study begins with IBE102.  A course designed around lectures on the principles-based (uṣūlī) and objectives-based (maqāsidī) approaches to Islamic Ethics along with discussion-based cases.  The semester ends with an in depth study of the sources of healing and the Qur’ānic ʾĀyāh of Shifāʾ.