In Islam, morality in the sense of "non practical guidelines" or "specific norms or codes of behavior" for good doing (as opposed to ethical theory), are primarily based on the Quran and the Hadith – the central religious texts of Islam – and also mostly "commonly known moral virtues" whose major points "most religions largely agree on". They include kindness (to people and animals), charity, forgiveness, honesty, patience, justice, respecting parents and elders, keeping promises, and controlling one's anger, love of God and those God loves, love of his messenger (Muhammad) and of believers.
The "basic aim" of Islamic morality and ethics is "to achieve" Raza-e Ilahi (the Pleasure of God)" or to make God's pleasure "the objective of man’s life"; and the importance of moral behavior in this is reflected in the five Quranic verses calling on Muslims to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, and hadith that quote Muhammad as saying 'I was sent to perfect the ethical conduct'.
Terminology
Terms associated with right-doing in Islam include: Akhlaq () is the practice of virtue, morality and manners in Islamic theology and falsafah (philosophy). The science of ethics (`Ilm al-Akhlaq) teaches that through practice and conscious effort man can surpass their natural dispositions and natural state (Fitrah) to become more ethical and well mannered. In the social sciences Akhlaq is a kind of normative ethical systems known as "virtue ethics", which is based on "virtues, or moral character", rather than "conceptions of the right (as in Kantian ethics) or the good (as in utilitarianism)". Al-Adāb (), has been defined as "decency, morals". Iḥsān (), is an Arabic term meaning "beautification", "perfection" or "excellence", but in Islam it is also defined (by Malcolm Clark) as ethics/morality "literally virtue, including right living," and (according to Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood) is a matter of taking one's inner faith and showing it in both deed and action.
Difference between Akhlaq and morality in Islam
According to Juan E. Campo, editor of Encyclopedia of Islam, Ethics means philosophical reflection upon moral conduct, while morality pertains to specific norms or codes of behavior. Questions of ethics, therefore, involve such subjects as human nature and the capacity to do good, the nature of good and evil, motivations for moral action, the underlying principles governing moral and immoral acts, deciding who is obliged to adhere to the moral code and who is exempted from it, and the implications of either adhering to the moral code or violating it. Morality encompasses the values and rules that govern human conduct … Similarly, Malcolm Clark says, "... some Western ethicists make a distinction between ethics (theory) and morals (practical guidelines) ..."
Scriptural sources
According to Nikhat Sattar, "Islamic ethics differ from the Western concept" in being based on divine revelation
Quran
The Quran, which Muslims believe is God's revelation to humanity, declares "righteousness" to include (besides specific religious beliefs such as believing in Allah, the Day of Judgement, Prophets, Angels, etc.), the spending of "your substance, ... for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the freeing of captives; ... practice regular charity; to fulfill the contracts which you made; and to be firm and patient in pain and adversity and throughout all periods of panic” (Q.2:177); to be "active in deeds of charity; who abstain from sex except with their wives, or whom their right hands possess. ... [to] faithfully observe their trusts and covenants ....” (Q.23.3-11)
According to a reading of the Surah 17, "Al-Israa" ("The Night Journey"), verses , by academic S. A. Nigosian, a set of moral stipulations that can be reasonably categorised as ten in number, and written to resemble the Ten Commandments in the Bible. Nigosian alleges this "represents the fullest statement of the code of behavior every Muslim must follow", although Islamic scholars have not set apart these verses from any other moral stipulations in the Qur'an, nor are they regarded as a substitute, replacement, or abrogation of some other set of commandments as found in the previous revelations. "Worship only God," (); "Be kind, honourable and humble to one's parents," () ; "Be neither miserly nor wasteful," (); "Do not engage in 'mercy killings' for fear of starvation," God will provide. (); "Do not commit adultery," (); "Do not kill unjustly," (); "Care for orphaned children,"(); "Keep one's promises:" (); "Be honest and fair in one's interactions," (); "Do not be arrogant in one's claims or beliefs," ().