The Concept of Conscience in Islamic Thought

The concept of conscience, which is one of the key concepts for moral thought, is often used in the sense of "moral consciousness" today. When we look at the thought of Islam, it is difficult to say that the word conscience is used in this sense or that it is commonly used with such a content. As a matter of fact, in many texts, this concept is mentioned in a way that corresponds to intuition in an epistemological sense, not moral.
The aim of this study is to process the concept of conscience through Islamic traditions and to determine the equivalent of the concept in these traditions. This situation necessitates us to deal with the texts that aim to analyze the mental states and their practical consequences that provide the moral awareness of the actor against an action, regardless of whether the conscience is literal or not. If we do this, we will not only find the opportunity to reinterpret the classical texts on moral psychology, but also contribute to the reproduction of Islamic moral philosophy.
In the articles included in this book, which consists of the works presented at the Conscience in Islamic Thought Workshop hosted by İLEM-ILKE on June 3-4, 2016 within the scope of the Islamic Moral Thought Project, the way of problematizing the inner state that encourages people to act correctly, their reflections in different fields and psychological -theological foundations are discussed in terms of relevant traditions.