L'etica dell'onore nella cultura beduina e nell'Islam

After a short linguistic discussion of the main Arabic roots pertaining the concept of honor, the article shows how, while in the pre-Islamic Bedouin culture honor was linked to lineage, courage and pride, Islamic revelation connected it with ethics and religious virtue. Honor, intended as piety and wise behavior, is part of the original nature of man, on which God put His imprinting. The article analyses five Arab-Muslim thinkers, three 'medieval' (al-Ghazali, Ibn Bajja and Ibn Khaldun) and two modern (Lahbabi and Abou el-Fadl), emphasizing the concepts of balance, justice and person as constitutive of 'Islamic' honor. [Publisher's Text].