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tradition, emanating from the Qur’an and the Sunnah of Prophet
Muhammad ﷺ, but applicable to all humankind. Al-Sulamī cla-
rifies his source of their definition as follows: “I shall here describe
some of these and support them by the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ
and the declarations, actions, conduct, and virtues of our Elders.”
(al-Sulamī 1991: 37).

Futuwwah is often defined solely as ethics for youth. It may be mis-
leading to think that futuwwah means youth because as a concept it
refers to a moral quality rather than age. Futuwwah ethics are not
only for youth but for all ages and walks of life because it is used
synonymously with muruwwah, meaning wholesome personality. Li-
kewise, futuwwah is not only for men but also for women, because
good morality cannot be thought to be exclusively for young men.
In sum, it is a universal morality for all regardless of age and gender.

In the ethics and morality literature, futuwwah has been used with
various meanings:

(1) Applied Ethics and Morality
Futuwwah is used mostly to mean applied ethics derived from the
example of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, previous prophets from Adam
to ʿIsa (AS), Companions (ṣaḥābah) of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and
all saintly figures (ʾawliyāʾ) in the subsequent generations. There are
books exclusively dedicated to this type of understanding of futuwwah
in Arabic, Persian and Turkish.

(2) A Higher Moral and Spiritual Stage

In some Sufi literature, futuwwah is used to indicate a stage in knowle-
dge, spiritual state and moral qualities reflecting altruistic virtues. For
instance, the early Sufi scholar Abu al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī (376–465

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