Engineering Ethics In Islam: An Evaluative And Comparative Study Between Code Of Ethics Of Institution Of Engineers, Bangladesh (Ieb) And Code Of Professional Conduct Of Board Of Engineers Malaysia (BEM)

Abstract

During the past two centuries or so a number of buildings and bridges had been structurally failed and collapsed all over the world. Some of these incidents caused a sizeable number of human casualties. For instance, collapse of Tay Bridge in 1879 killed at least sixty persons. Beside the problems related to their design and construction, probably the failure to follow engineering ethics properly was partially responsible for these incidents. Growing engineering professionalism during the nineteenth century gave rise to the development of a number of famous engineering societies, such as American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE ( (1884), American Institute of Mining Engineers (AIME) (1871), etc. On the other hand, responding to series of significant structural failures mentioned above, some engineering societies developed formal codes of ethics. Following these societies, engineers of Bangladesh (previous East Pakistan) established Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB). Likewise, Malaysian engineers established Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM). Both of these societies have their codes of ethics. Islam also has offered a number of ethics to be followed by the engineers. Analyzing the related verses of the Qur'an and ahadith of the Prophet (pbuh), this paper intends to highlight these Islamic ethics and in light of them, tries to evaluate the codes of ethics of these two societies and compare between them. The paper may conclude that although the codes of ethics of IEB and BEM are supported by Islamic ethics they require further modification.ABSTRAK - Sejak lebih kurang dua abad kebelakangan ini, banyak binaan yang gagal dari segi strukturnya dan juga jambatan yang runtuh di merata dunia. Sesetengah tragedi yang berlaku juga mengakibatkan kehilangan nyawa manusia. Contohnya, robohnya Jambatan Tay pada 1879 telah meragut nyawa lebih kurang enam puluh orang. Selain daripada masalah yang berkaitan dengan reka bentuk dan pembinaanya, mungkin juga kegagalan untuk mematuhi etika kejuruteraan merupakan ssebahagian daripada penyebab tragedi-tragedi ini. Pertumbuhan keprofesionalan kejuruteraan dalam kurun ke-sembilan belas memberikan pertumbuhan pesat terhadap perkembangan beberapa pertubuhan kejuruteraan yang terkenal, seperti Institut Jurutera Elektrikal Amerika (American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE)-1884), Institut Jurutera Perlombongan Amerika (American Institute of Mining Engineers (AIME) -1871) dan sebagainya. Sebaliknya, dalam memberi respons terhadap kegagalan struktur yang signifikan di atas, beberapa persatuan kejuruteraan telah membangunkan beberapa kod etika formal. Berdasarkan kepada pertubuhan-pertubuhan ini, jurutera Bangladesh (yang sebelum ini dikenali sebagai Pakistan Timur) menubuhkan Institut Jurutera Bangladesh (Institution of Engineers Bangladesh (IEB)). Jurutera Malaysia pula menubuhkan Lembaga Jurutera Malaysia (Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM)). Kedua-dua pertubuhan ini mempunyai kod etika masing-masing. Agama Islam juga menyenaraikan beberapa etika yang perlu diikuti. Dengan mendalami ayat-ayat Al-Quran dan hadis Rasullullah yang berkaitan, kertas ini bertujuan menekankan etika-etika Islam dan juga mengkaji kod etika kedua-dua pertubuhan ini dan membuat perbandingan. Kertas ini mungkin merumuskan bahawa walaupun kod etika IEB dan BEM disokong oleh etika Islam, namun beberapa pendekatan harus diubah.  Keywords-engineering ethics; Islamic ethics; IEB; BEM; evaluation.