Al-Takhalluq and Diplomatic Praxis: Ibn Uthman al-Miknasi’s Ethics of Islamic Diplomacy

Abstract This article articulates the diplomatic philosophy of the eighteenth-century Moroccan ambassador Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Miknasi (d. 1799) by analyzing the ethical and conceptual frameworks he developed in his Maqamat . It examines how al-Miknasi integrated Islamic ethics with the practical demands of diplomacy. At the core of his diplomatic philosophy is the conceptual bedrock of al-Takhalluq – the deliberate cultivation of moral and ethical character – which reflects his conviction in the indivisible relationship between Deen (religion) and Dunya (worldly affairs), affirming the omnipresence of a divine ethical order that underpins all dimensions of human action. Al-Miknasi disrupts the conventional dichotomy between religion and politics by offering a vision of political subjectivity rooted in trust and moral accountability. In doing so, he re-imagines the role of Muslim ambassadors by dissolving the secular into an Islamic ethical framework.