Examining Islamic Moral Values in Ruta Sepetys' Salt to The Sea

Abstract

Moral value has been presented in human life as long as civilisation existed. It gives guidance to its holders on what is right and what is wrong to do. Moral values have been inserted in literary works in order to help people understand their lives, and those can be used as guidelines or life perspectives when carrying out a behaviour or attitude. Novelists have intended to instil their moral values and beliefs in their novels, regardless of what their religions are. The purpose of this study was to identify Islamic moral values in Ruta Sepetys' novel Salt to the Sea. Using a qualitative content analysis method with the novel as the research subject, this study focuses on Islamic moral ideals expressed by the novel's main characters. The findings revealed eight Islamic moral values in Salt to The Sea: friendliness to family (hablumminannas), intelligence (fathanah), contentment (qana'ah), charity (as-sakha), tolerance (tasamuh), helpfulness (ta'awun), trustworthiness (amanah), and honesty (shiddiq).