Medical Experts & Islamic Scholars Deliberating over Brain Death: Gaps in the Applied Islamic Bioethics Discourse

Abstract

The scope, methodology and tools of Islamic bioethics as a self-standing discipline remain open to debate. Physicians, sociologists, Islamic law experts, historians, religious leaders as well as policy and health researchers have all entered the global discussion attempting to conceptualize Islamic bioethics. Arguably, the implications of Islamic bioethical discourse is most significant for healthcare practitioners and their patients, as patient values interact with those of healthcare providers and the medical system at large leading to ethical challenges and potential cultural conflicts. Similarly the products of the discourse are of primary import to religious leaders and Imams who advise Muslim patients on religiously acceptable medical practices. However, the process and products of the current Islamic bioethical discourse contains gaps that preclude them from meeting the needs of healthcare practitioners, religious leaders, and those they advise. Within the medical literature, published works on Islamic bioethics authored by medical practitioners often contain gaps such as the failure to account for theological debates about the role of the intellect, ‘aql, in ethical decision making, failure to utilize sources of Islamic law, and failure to address the pluralism of opinions within the Islamic 1 Address correspondence to: Aasim I. Padela, RWJF Clinical Scholars Program, 6312 Med Sci Bldg I, 1150 W Med Center Drive, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI 48109-5604; email: aasim@umich.edu; phone: 734-647-4844. © 2011 Hartford Seminary. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148 USA.