AgoraAn open square of thought

Work · Philosophy in the Islamic World

Jalalian Ethics

c. 1475 · by Jalal al-Din al-Dawani

Persian work of practical philosophy written for the Aq Qoyunlu court: ethics, the household and the state, after the model of al-Tusi’s Nasirean Ethics but with more Qur’anic and Sufi material; it was widely read in Iran, India and the Ottoman lands.

Open in the star map

Introduction

Jalal al-Din al-Dawani wrote “Jalalian Ethics” (Akhlāq-i Jalālī), originally titled Lawāmiʿ al-ishrāq fī makārim al-akhlāq, in Persian for the Aq Qoyunlu court in the later fifteenth century. Following the model of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi’s Nasirean Ethics, it is divided into ethics (the soul and its virtues), the management of the household and the government of the state, but it adds more Qur’anic, Sufi and Illuminationist material and addresses rulers directly on justice. It was widely read in Iran, Mughal India and the Ottoman lands, was translated into English by W. F. Thompson in 1839, and became one of the models of Kınalızade’s Ethics of Ali.

Connections

Builds on

Taken up in

More works by Jalal al-Din al-Dawani

As of November 2026 · Improve this page · How Agora is made

Open in the star map