The Role of Moral Responsibility in Decision-Making Models Inspired by Islamic Religious Traditions

Abstract

This study aimed to systematically examine and synthesize the role of moral responsibility in decision-making models inspired by Islamic religious traditions. This study was conducted as a systematic review with a qualitative thematic synthesis approach. The study corpus consisted of scholarly sources related to moral responsibility, ethical decision-making, Islamic ethics, accountability, justice, intention, consultation, trustworthiness, and social responsibility. An initial search identified 386 records from academic databases, library catalogues, and reference lists. After removing duplicates and screening titles, abstracts, and full texts based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, 44 eligible sources were included in the final review. Data were collected using a systematic search protocol, an eligibility assessment checklist, and a researcher-developed data extraction form. The extracted data were analyzed through repeated reading, open coding, categorization of related concepts, and synthesis of major themes. The thematic synthesis indicated that moral responsibility operates as a core organizing principle in Islamic-inspired decision-making models. The most frequently identified theme was accountability before God and society, appearing in 88.6% of the reviewed sources. Intention as the moral foundation of decision-making appeared in 81.8% of sources, followed by justice as the normative criterion of choice in 77.3%, responsibility toward collective welfare in 72.7%, trustworthiness and fulfillment of duty in 70.5%, consequence awareness and harm prevention in 68.2%, consultation and collective responsibility in 63.6%, and the balance between divine guidance and human reasoning in 61.4%. The synthesis further showed that moral responsibility extends across all stages of decision-making, including recognition of moral problems, clarification of intention, ethical evaluation, consultation, consequence assessment, responsible choice, integrity in implementation, and post-decision accountability. The findings suggest that Islamic religious traditions provide a comprehensive ethical framework for decision-making by integrating personal moral agency, divine accountability, justice, consultation, trustworthiness, social welfare, and responsibility for consequences. Moral responsibility in this framework is not limited to individual conscience or external compliance, but functions as a continuous process that guides intention, judgment, action, and correction.