Islamic moral norms are self-monitored through ascetic interpretive practices rather than legally enforced.

Evidence

This stands in contrast to the kind of self-scrutiny applied by a woman who chooses to stay with an impious husband: such a woman must constantly watch that she does not use her husband’s behavior as an excuse for her own religious laxity, assess her intentions and motivations for the actions she pur.. sues, make sure she does everything in her capacity to raise her children in ac.. cord with standards of pious conduct, and so on. In both situations, moral in.. junctions are not juridically enforced but are self..monitored and entail an entire set of ascetic practices in which the individual engages in an interpre.. tive activity, in accord with shariea guidelines, to determine how best to live by Islamic moral codes and regulations. — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 1263

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ethics-as-self-scrutiny: distinct from juridical enforcement; the interpretive work of determining how to live is the core of pious agency.