If God commanded you to do something contrary to your moral conscience, how would you respond? Many believers of different faiths face a similar challenge today. While they take scripture to be the word of God, they find scriptural passages that seem incompatible with their modern moral sensibilities. In Morality and Revelation in Islamic Thought and Beyond , philosopher Amir Saemi identifies this as the problem of divinely prescribed evil. Saemi unpacks two approaches to answering this problem. In the first part of the book, Saemi demonstrates how Islamic thinkers of various historical traditions (including the Ash'arites, the Mu'tazilites, and the Greek influenced Philosophers, falasifa ) adhered to a scripture-first view. By appealing to hidden moral facts known only to God or the prophet, a scripture-first approach views moral reasoning, at least when it conflicts with Scripture, with skepticism. An ethics-first view, however, places our independent moral judgments before scripture. In the second part of the book, Saemi offers two ethics-first solutions, with some roots in the Islamic tradition, to the problem of divinely prescribed evil. Each solution argues that our own moral reasoning is reliable in the face of skeptical arguments presented by Scripture-first views and shows how a theist can maintain their belief in scripture's divinity while relying on their own moral judgments. By studying the conflict between morality and revelation in Islamic thought, Saemi offers unapologetic solutions not only for progressive Muslims but for all theists who take their moral judgments seriously. "Well worth reading and opening a debate." -- Sajjad Rizvi, Religious Studies Review "Saemi's book offers much more than I could cover here. It is philosophically rigorous, conceptually clear, and a significant contribution to the philosophy of religion by showing how perspectives from the Islamic tradition could move various debates in new directions. But it is also a refreshingly honest reflection on moral questions that are sometimes brushed aside too quickly by many others." -- Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews "Saemi's book is a new spin on a classical problem that will interest students and scholars of philosophy and religion, religious ethics, and morality and revelation." -- Hussam S. Timani, Reading Religion "The problem of divinely prescribed evil is surprisingly underexplored. Or so it was until Amir Saemi wrote his groundbreaking book." -- Farbod Akhlaghi, Agatheos: European Journal for Philosophy of Religion "Amir Saemi deserves congratulations for his efforts in producing this excellent book. In it, he directly addresses the tension many Muslims feel between certain aspects of Islamic belief and modern moral sensibilities. As far as I am aware, Saemi's book is the inaugural instance of an exercise in contemporary Islamic Philosophy of Religion that provides an in-depth exploration of this tension. I hold Saemi's work in high regard and commend him for initiating an important discussion that philosophers and other intellectuals interested in the truth and reasonableness of Islamic belief need to engage in." -- Imran Aijaz, Agatheos: European Journal for Philosophy of Religion "In his recent book, Morality and Revelation in Islamic Thought and Beyond , Amir Saemi tackles an important problem that he calls the 'new problem of evil': the problem that Islamic Scripture seems to command actions that our modern moral sensibilities find immoral. While this book is written in the Islamic context, it is clear that many religions face a version of this problem." -- Lara Buchak, Agatheos: European Journal for Philosophy of Religion "Saemi-who is mainly an analytic ethicist-has authored an excellent and thought-provoking book on a complex philosophical problem that arises primarily within Islamic philosophy and theology but can, in principle, challenge adherents of other religions as well. Leading ethicists and philosophers of religion, with diverse religious attitudes and philosophical views, have found the book worth discussing." -- Mohammad Saleh Zarepour, Agatheos: European Journal for Philosophy of Religion "This is a deeply thought-provoking book in which Amir Saemi draws our attention to the problem of prescribed evil...Saemi's work is part of an important and growing body of contemporary literature that brings together Muslim tradition and erudite philosophical analysis. This book would be suitable as a reader for a graduate level course on morality and revelation in Islamic thought. Overall, I would highly recommend this work for anyone with a serious interest in a philosophical approach to faith, scripture and morality." -- Zain Ali, Agatheos: European Journal for Philosophy of Religion " Morality and Revelation in Islamic Thought and Beyond is significant in addressing the conflict between morality and revelation in modern times. Amir Saemi's success in formulating careful arguments