Ma`rifat Falsafi

As one of the important issues in normative ethics, which, despite their significance and fundamental standing in Islamic ethics, moral rules have received less attention. With the aim of analyzing the nature of moral rules in the theory of divine proximity (qurb-e ilāhī) attributed to Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, this paper has been organized on the basis of the application of moral rules in this theory. The research method is descriptive-analytical, and the outcome of the research includes the derivation of eight characteristics of moral rules, the typology of moral rules, and the presentation of a specific definition. Accordingly, the theory of divine proximity is among the rule-based theories in Islamic ethics, in which moral rules play their role in the deduction of moral judgments as the middle term for proving more specific moral judgments through the major premise (kubrā) in the course of moral reasoning. The most important features of moral rules in this theory include: exemplifying moral judgment, universality, susceptibility to exceptions, realism, demonstrability, being informative (akhbārī), consistency with foundations and principles, and playing its role in the major premise of moral reasoning. Furthermore, various types of moral rules, such as positive and negative, general and specific, and primary (original) and derivative, were identified in this theory.