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French

2026

Axiological approaches to the Islamic phenomenon

Paper presented at the 5th international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme “Ethics and Aesthetics in Islam”. Ghaleb Bencheikh (Foundation for Islam of France) spoke as part of the inaugural lecture.

Summary of the paper

Theological and metaphysical thought in Islamic contexts helped to shape a system of values that has played a fundamental role as a social and cultural bond in Muslim-majority societies throughout history.

Beyond logic and rhetoric, the two disciplines at the heart of axiology, ethics and aesthetics, are omnipresent in the moral, intellectual and artistic self-definition of Islamic civilisation. Ethical concern is central to the wealth of adab treatises and the long tradition of the “etiquette of souls”, while aesthetics has shaped a refined sensibility in which beauty is the supreme theophany, the contemplation of creation echoing the meditation of the revealed text.

Finally, the paper asks whether contemporary theological thought can move beyond a “morality of prohibition” to become the source of a humanist ethics, in which the aesthetic experience of the love of the beautiful culminates in an uplifting spirituality.

Communication présentée lors du cinquième congrès international de la Plateforme universitaire de recherche sur l’islam (PLURIEL), tenu à Cordoue du 10 au 14 février 2026 sur le thème « Éthique et esthétique en islam ». Ghaleb Bencheikh (Fondation de l’Islam de France) est intervenu dans le cadre de l’Conférence inaugurale.

Résumé de la communication

La pensée théologique et métaphysique dans les contextes islamiques a participé à l’élaboration d’un système de valeurs qui a joué un rôle fondamental de liant social et culturel dans les sociétés à majorité musulmane à travers l’histoire.

Nous verrons que, outre la logique et la rhétorique qui constituent une sous-branche de l’axiologie moderne, les deux disciplines majeures qui sont ses deux domaines de prédilection : l’éthique et l’esthétique sont omniprésentes dans la détermination morale, intellectuelle et artistique de la civilisation islamique.

En effet, la préoccupation éthique y est centrale dans la profusion des traités d’al adab et la longue tradition des « étiquettes des âmes » avec l’appréciation du bon comportement et du savoir-vivre. Et l’importance particulière de l’esthétique a caractérisé une vie hédoniste sensible au raffinement et à la production artistique avec la beauté comme suprême théophanie et la magnificence comme idéal transcendant ; la contemplation des splendeurs de la Création dans le « livre étalé » étant en parfaite congruence avec la méditation des versets du « livre révélé ».

Enfin, nous aurons à questionner la disposition de la pensée théologique contemporaine, au-delà d’une « morale de l’interdit », à se constituer dans une veine novatrice et audacieuse, en source d’une éthique humaniste avec l’expérience esthétique de l’amour du beau qui se parachève dans une spiritualité vivifiante et élévatrice.

مداخلة قُدّمت في المؤتمر الدولي الخامس للمنصة الجامعية للدراسات حول الإسلام (Pluriel)، المنعقد في قرطبة من 10 إلى 14 شباط/فبراير 2026 حول موضوع «الأخلاق والجماليات في الإسلام». تحدّث غالب بن الشيخ (مؤسسة الإسلام في فرنسا) ضمن المحاضرة الافتتاحية.

ملخّص المداخلة

أسهم الفكر اللاهوتي والميتافيزيقي في السياقات الإسلامية في بلورة منظومة قيم أدّت دورًا أساسيًا بوصفها رباطًا اجتماعيًا وثقافيًا في المجتمعات ذات الأغلبية المسلمة عبر التاريخ.

وإلى جانب المنطق والبلاغة، يحضر مجالان رئيسان في صميم علم القيم هما الأخلاق والجماليات حضورًا شاملًا في التحديد الأخلاقي والفكري والفنّي للحضارة الإسلامية. فالهمّ الأخلاقي مركزيٌّ في غزارة مصنّفات الأدب وفي التقليد الطويل لـ«آداب النفوس»، في حين طبعت الجمالياتُ حسًّا مرهفًا يُنظر فيه إلى الجمال بوصفه أسمى تجلٍّ إلهي، فتأمّل بدائع الخلق في «الكتاب المنشور» يوازي تدبّر آيات «الكتاب المسطور».

وأخيرًا، تتساءل المداخلة عمّا إذا كان الفكر اللاهوتي المعاصر قادرًا على تجاوز «أخلاق المنع» ليغدو منبعًا لأخلاق إنسانية، تكتمل فيها التجربة الجمالية لحبّ الجميل في روحانية مُحيِية ورافعة.

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