Islamic Bioethics Research Articles

Bioethics in Islamic Thought

AbstractThis article gives an overview of Islamic ethical thought and its relationship to bioethical issues. It argues that Islamic bioethics can be viewed both as a cumulative tradition building on the Islamic ethical resources and as an ongoing discourse that captures the effort to understand and implement Islamic moral precepts pertaining to a wide range of issues including the beginning and end of human life, treatment of the human body, and proper attitudes towards the environment. After a brief introduction on the term ‘bioethics’ and its history, the article is divided into three main sections exploring the foundations of Islamic (bio)ethics, the evolution and development of medical ethics in the Islamic tradition, and the main challenges confronting contemporary Islamic bioethical discourses.

Human Embryology in the Islamic Tradition

The translation of Greek works on medicine and biology into Arabic and their wide dissemination, at the latest by the 6th-7th/12th-13th centuries, in different disciplines of the Islamic tradition were not without consequences, especially for fiqh (Islamic law). In their religio-ethical discussions, Muslim jurists addressed this Greek medical legacy, together with comments and additions made by Muslim and non-Muslim, especially Jewish, physicians. This essay starts with introductory remarks about the main approaches to medical views on human embryology in philosophy and theology. I then focus on the works of five Muslims jurists from the 7th-8th /13th-14th centuries, with special attention to the Mālikī jurist Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qarāfī (d. 684/1285) and the Ḥanbalī Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751/1350), whose contributions to human embryology remain comparatively unexplored. My main thesis is that the introduction of medical views on human embryology to fiqh literature opened the door for post-formative jurists to practice ijtihād, sometimes on a large scale, by going beyond the established authority of the madhāhib (schools of law). In modern times, Muslim jurists who address human embryology, especially within the nascent of field of Islamic bioethics, have been influenced by these earlier discussions.

Islamic Bioethics: The Inevitable Interplay of ‘Texts’ and ‘Contexts’

BioethicsVolume 28, Issue 2 p. ii-v EDITORIAL Islamic Bioethics: The Inevitable Interplay of ‘Texts’ and ‘Contexts’ Mohammed Ghaly, Mohammed GhalySearch for more papers by this author Mohammed Ghaly, Mohammed GhalySearch for more papers by this author First published: 02 January 2014 https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12081Citations: 2Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume28, Issue2Special Issue: Islamic Bioethics: Text and ContextFebruary 2014Pages ii-v RelatedInformation

Wartość życia u podstaw islamskiej (bio)etyki

The aim of this article is to present the position of Islamic ethics and bioethics on the issue of the value of life. To better illustrate this topic the article is divided into two parts. In the first, the authors provide an overview of ethics, and relate it Islamic bioethics, including its sources and inspirations, while in the second, the authors examine the value of life as depicted from the perspective of Quranic ethics and Islamic bioethics of both the Shi’a and the Sunnis. Although the text has a propedeutic character it is important because it adds another theological-philosophical layer to the complex bioethical discussion that lies at the heart of the current dispute about the value of human life.

BIOETIKA DALAM PERSPEKTIF ISLAM SEBAGAI PENGAWAL PERKEMBANGAN BIOLOGI MODERN

<p>Modern biology has been developing so rapidly that the field can amazingly provides great benefits for human beings’ prosperous life either at present or in the future. It may, however, influence the ethical aspects negatively due to reductionism. Therefore, bioethics is highly required to control the devastating growth of modern biology and drive it toward persistent commitment upon human benefits (<em>maslahah</em>).</p> <p>This paper suggests that Bioethics–based learning be implemented in any educational level to develop the students’ critical thinking. Such learning might be put into practice by promoting the ethical decision-making method integrated with religious (Islamic) perspective. The integration would result in the students’ considering the six principles of Islamic bioethics in any modern biology studies so that the students can precisely predict the beneficial or dangerous consequences of their scientific activities.</p>

CONSTRUCTIVE THEOLOGY, BIOETHICS, AND BODILY EXISTENCE

“Imaginative construction” captured the methodological orientation of Gordon D. Kaufman (1925–2011), who in later work used the word “mystery” when speaking of the ultimate. Among his books are An Essay on Theological Method (1975) and In Face of Mystery: A Constructive Theology (1993). He published in Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science (1992, 2001, 2003a, b, 2005, 2007), and has been remembered here before (Drees 2012). In this issue of Zygon, Myriam Renaud considers the earlier work of Kaufman. Jerome Soneson and Patrick Woolley pay attention to method and epistemology. Thomas James analyzes his work as an “ecological theocentrism,” while Karl Peters takes Kaufman as a partner for his articulation of Christian naturalism. These papers come from a symposium at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in November 2012 in Chicago. Islam and Biomedical Ethics was the topic of a conference in Doha, Qatar, in June 2012, organized by Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar, along with the Qatar National Research Fund and its Faculty of Islamic Studies, and Leiden University. The importance of family and genealogy shows in articles on paternity (Ayman Shabana) and womb transplants (Amel Alghrani). Mohammed Ghaly analyzes the role of experts in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Efficacy in the community requires more than conveying information, as shown here using the examples of organ donation (Shoaib Rasheed and Aasim Padela) and vaccines (Padela). Henk ten Have places Islamic bioethics in the context of global bioethics, alongside issues of social justice and economic power. I discuss Islamic bioethics as “religion and science.” To my surprise, Zygon had more contributions relating Islam to bioethics than on another facet of “Islam and science,” though we have covered this broader topic too, for example, with responses to Islam's Quantum Question (Bagir 2012; Brooke 2012; Dajani 2012; Guessoum 2011, 2012; Hameed 2012). In Ghaly's opening paper for this section, he explores and explains the rise of Islamic bioethics in recent years. “Religion and Embodied Cognition” is the topic of the third section in this issue, with papers from a meeting of the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) in Loccum, Germany, in September 2012. I could say “we are bodies, and we have minds” but it would be equally true to say “we are minds, and have bodies.”11 The expressions were inspired by a discussion on IRAS-net, a forum of members of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science; the discussion on the forum was triggered by a contribution in the New York Times of May 6, 2013, “I Am Not My Body,” by Brian Jay Stanley. The priority of the mental corresponds to our experiences as selves. Bodily existence has primacy in our actions. The coexistence of these perspectives brings with it a reductionist-holist view of human nature (see Allen 2013; McMullin 2013). The opening paper by Fraser Watts argues that such a holistic understanding of human nature can be appreciated within religious perspectives. John Teske brings the reader up to date on the science. Daniel Weiss shows nondualism in rabbinic texts in Judaism, thereby arguing for a resonance between these views and science. Léon Turner considers ideas on the concrete individual, as all personhood is shaped by relations and contexts. Warren Brown and Kevin Reimer explore character formation (and virtue) as shaped by engagement with real, bodily others—his example being the work of the communities of l'Arche (the Ark). The three thematic sections in this issue represent broader issues of method, ethics, and anthropology. In the December issue, we will continue with a rich offering of individual papers.

ISLAMIC BIOETHICS IN THE TWENTY‐FIRST CENTURY

AbstractIslamic bioethics is in good health, this article argues. During the twentieth century, academic researchers had to deal with a number of difficulties including the scarcity of available Islamic sources. However, the twenty‐first century witnessed significant breakthroughs in the field of Islamic bioethics. A growing number of normative works authored by Muslim religious scholars and studies conducted by academic researchers have been published. This nascent field also proved to be appealing for research‐funding institutions in the Muslim world and also in the West, such as the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). On the other hand, the article argues that contemporary Islamic bioethics is in need of addressing news issues and adopting new approaches for the sake of maintaining and improving this good health in the future.

GLOBAL BIOETHICS: TRANSNATIONAL EXPERIENCES AND ISLAMIC BIOETHICS

AbstractIn the 1970s “bioethics” emerged as a new interdisciplinary discourse on medicine, health care, and medical technologies, primarily in Western, developed countries. The main focus was on how individual patients could be empowered to cope with the challenges of science and technology. Since the 1990s, the main source of bioethical problems is the process of globalization, particularly neo‐liberal market ideology. Faced with new challenges such as poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, hunger, pandemics, and organ trafficking the bioethical discourse of empowering individuals is no longer sufficient. Global bioethics nowadays is concerned with applying and implementing a universal ethical framework. Islamic bioethics has contributed to creating such framework (exemplified in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights) while at the same time it is continuously articulating and interpreting this framework in specific settings and contexts.

THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND ORGAN DONATION AMONG MUSLIMS

AbstractBioethics and health researchers often turn to Islamic jurisconsults (fuqahā’) and their verdicts (fatāwā) to understand how Islam and health intersect. Yet when using fatwā to promote health behavior change, researchers have often found less than ideal results. In this article we examine several health behavior change interventions that partnered with Muslim religious leaders aiming at promoting organ donation. As these efforts have generally met with limited success, we reanalyze these efforts through the lens of the theory of planned behavior, and in light of two distinct scholarly imperatives of Muslim religious leaders, the ʿilmī and the islāhī. We argue for a new approach to health behavior change interventions within the Muslim community that are grounded in theoretical frameworks from the science of behavior change, as well the religious leadership paradigms innate to the Islamic tradition. We conclude by exploring the implications of our proposed model for applied Islamic bioethics and health research.

ISLAMIC VERDICTS IN HEALTH POLICY DISCOURSE: PORCINE‐BASED VACCINES AS A CASE STUDY

AbstractIn this article, I apply a policy‐oriented applied Islamic bioethics lens to two verdicts on the permissibility of using vaccines with porcine components. I begin by reviewing the decrees and then proceed to describe how they were used by health policy stakeholders. Subsequently, My analysis will highlight aspects of the verdict's ethico‐legal arguments in order to illustrate salient legal concepts that must be accounted for when using Islamic verdicts as the basis for health policy. I will conclude with several suggestions for facilitating a more judicious use of verdicts in policy‐relevant discourse. My analysis is meant to contribute to the dialogue between science and religion, and aims to further efforts at developing health policies that value health while accommodating religious values. In the encounter between the Islamic tradition and global public health, a multidisciplinary dialogue, where Islamic legists become aware of the health policy implications of their ethico‐legal pronouncements, and where health policy actors gain a literate understanding of Islamic ethico‐legal theory, will lead to verdicts that better meet the needs of patients, health workers, and religious leaders.

LAW AND ETHICS IN ISLAMIC BIOETHICS: NONMALEFICENCE IN ISLAMIC PATERNITY REGULATIONS

AbstractIn Islamic law paternity is treated as a consequence of a licit sexual relationship. Since DNA testing makes a clear distinction between legal and biological paternity possible, it challenges the continued correlation between paternity and marriage. This article explores the foundations of paternity regulations in the Islamic ethico‐legal tradition, with a particular focus on what is termed here “the licit sex principle,” and investigates the extent to which a harm‐based argument can be made either by appeal to or against Islamic paternity regulations. It argues that in Islamic bioethics the definition of harm and its boundaries is a function of both: (1) identification of legal and religious rights and the extent to which these rights are violated; and (2) balancing and reconciling perceived harm against both specific principles in relation to a given issue and also the overarching objectives of Islamic law. The article is divided into three main sections addressing the Islamic legal, ethical, and bioethical dimensions of paternity.

Pre‐modern Islamic Medical Ethics and Graeco‐Islamic‐Jewish Embryology

This article examines the, hitherto comparatively unexplored, reception of Greek embryology by medieval Muslim jurists. The article elaborates on the views attributed to Hippocrates (d. ca. 375 BC), which received attention from both Muslim physicians, such as Avicenna (d. 1037), and their Jewish peers living in the Muslim world including Ibn Jumay' (d. ca. 1198) and Moses Maimonides (d. 1204). The religio-ethical implications of these Graeco-Islamic-Jewish embryological views were fathomed out by the two medieval Muslim jurists Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qarāfī (d. 1285) and Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 1350). By putting these medieval religio-ethical discussions into the limelight, the article aims to argue for a two-pronged thesis. Firstly, pre-modern medical ethics did exist in the Islamic tradition and available evidence shows that this field had a multidisciplinary character where the Islamic scriptures and the Graeco-Islamic-Jewish medical legacy were highly intertwined. This information problematizes the postulate claiming that medieval Muslim jurists were hostile to the so-called 'ancient sciences'. Secondly, these medieval religio-ethical discussions remain playing a significant role in shaping the nascent field of contemporary Islamic bioethics. However, examining the exact character and scope of this role still requires further academic ventures.

Ethics of Surrogacy: A Comparative Study of Western Secular and Islamic Bioethics

The comparative approach regarding the ethics of surrogacy from the Western secular and Islamic bioethical view reveals both commensurable and incommensurable relationship. Both are eager to achieve the welfare of the mother, child and society as a whole but the approaches are not always the same. Islamic bioethics is straightforward in prohibiting surrogacy by highlighting the lineage problem and also other social chaos and anarchy. Western secular bioethics is relative and mostly follows a utilitarian approach.

Islamic bioethics: between sacred law, lived experiences, and state authority

There is burgeoning interest in the field of "Islamic" bioethics within public and professional circles, and both healthcare practitioners and academic scholars deploy their respective expertise in attempts to cohere a discipline of inquiry that addresses the needs of contemporary bioethics stakeholders while using resources from within the Islamic ethico-legal tradition. This manuscript serves as an introduction to the present thematic issue dedicated to Islamic bioethics. Using the collection of papers as a guide the paper outlines several critical questions that a comprehensive and cohesive Islamic bioethical theory must address: (i) What are the relationships between Islamic law (Sharī'ah), moral theology (uṣūl al-Fiqh), and Islamic bioethics? (ii) What is the relationship between an Islamic bioethics and the lived experiences of Muslims? and (iii) What is the relationship between Islamic bioethics and the state? This manuscript, and the papers in this special collection, provides insight into how Islamic bioethicists and Muslim communities are addressing some of these questions, and aims to spur further dialogue around these overaching questions as Islamic bioethics coalesces into a true field of scholarly and practical inquiry.

The degree of certainty in brain death: probability in clinical and Islamic legal discourse

The University of Michigan conference "Where Religion, Policy, and Bioethics Meet: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Islamic Bioethics and End-of-Life Care" in April 2011 addressed the issue of brain death as the prototype for a discourse that would reflect the emergence of Islamic bioethics as a formal field of study. In considering the issue of brain death, various Muslim legal experts have raised concerns over the lack of certainty in the scientific criteria as applied to the definition and diagnosis of brain death by the medical community. In contrast, the medical community at large has not required absolute certainty in its process, but has sought to eliminate doubt through cumulative diagnostic modalities and supportive scientific evidence. This has recently become a principal model, with increased interest in data analysis and evidence-based medicine with the intent to analyze and ultimately improve outcomes. Islamic law has also long employed a systematic methodology with the goal of eliminating doubt from rulings regarding the question of certainty. While ample criticism of the scientific criteria of brain death (Harvard criteria) by traditional legal sources now exists, an analysis of the legal process in assessing brain death, geared toward informing the clinician's perspective on the issue, is lacking. In this article, we explore the role of certainty in the diagnostic modalities used to establish diagnoses of brain death in current medical practice. We further examine the Islamic jurisprudential approach vis-à-vis the concept of certainty (yaqīn). Finally, we contrast the two at times divergent philosophies and consider what each perspective may contribute to the global discourse on brain death, understanding that the interdependence that exists between the theological, juridical, ethical, and medical/scientific fields necessitates an open discussion and active collaboration between all parties. We hope that this article serves to continue the discourse that was successfully begun by this initial interdisciplinary endeavor at the University of Michigan.

Wilāyah (authority and governance) and its implications for Islamic bioethics: a Sunni Māturīdi perspective

Juridical councils that render rulings on bioethical issues for Muslims living in non-Muslim lands may have limited familiarity with the foundational concept of wilāyah (authority and governance) and its implications for their authority and functioning. This paper delineates a Sunni Māturīdi perspective on the concept of wilāyah, describes how levels of wilāyah correlate to levels of responsibility and enforceability, and describes the implications of wilāyah when applied to Islamic bioethical decision making. Muslim health practitioners and patients living in the absence of political wilāyah may be tempted to apply pragmatic and context-focused approaches to address bioethical dilemmas without a full appreciation of significant implications in the afterlife. Academic wilāyah requires believers to seek authentication of uncertain actions through scholarly opinions. Fulfilling this academic obligation naturally leads to additional mutually beneficial discussions between Islamic scholars, healthcare professionals, and patients. Furthermore, an understanding derived from a Māturīdi perspective provides a framework for Islamic scholars and Muslim health care professionals to generate original contributions to mainstream bioethics and public policy discussions.

Dire Necessity and Transformation: Entry‐points for Modern Science in Islamic Bioethical Assessment of Porcine Products in Vaccines

The field of medicine provides an important window through which to examine the encounters between religion and science, and between modernity and tradition. While both religion and science consider health to be a 'good' that is to be preserved, and promoted, religious and science-based teachings may differ in their conception of what constitutes good health, and how that health is to be achieved. This paper analyzes the way the Islamic ethico-legal tradition assesses the permissibility of using vaccines that contain porcine-derived components by referencing opinions of several Islamic authorities. In the Islamic ethico-legal tradition controversy surrounds the use of proteins from an animal (pig) that is considered to be impure by Islamic law. As we discuss the Islamic ethico-legal constructs used to argue for or against the use of porcine-based vaccines we will call attention to areas where modern medical data may make the arguments more precise. By highlighting areas where science can buttress and clarify the ethico-legal arguments we hope to spur an enhanced applied Islamic bioethics discourse where religious scholars and medical experts use modern science in a way that remains faithful to the epistemology of Islamic ethics to clarify what Islam requires of Muslim patients and healthcare workers.

Religious and cultural legitimacy of bioethics: lessons from Islamic bioethics

Islamic religious norms are important for Islamic bioethical deliberations. In Muslim societies religious and cultural norms are sometimes confused but only the former are considered inviolable. I argue that respect for Islamic religious norms is essential for the legitimacy of bioethical standards in the Muslim context. I attribute the legitimating power of these norms, in addition to their purely religious and spiritual underpinnings, to their moral, legal, and communal dimensions. Although diversity within the Islamic ethical tradition defies any reductionist or essentialist reconstruction, legitimacy is secured mainly by approximation of Islamic ethical ideals believed to be inherent in the scriptural texts, rather than by the adoption of particular dogmatic or creedal views. With these characteristics, Islamic (bio) ethics may provide useful insights for comparative ethics and global bioethics.

Western and Islamic bioethics: How close is the gap?

The relation between Islam and medicine has been described as intimate. Muslims are expected to be moderate and balanced in all matters, including health. Islamic law is based on a complete system of morality that can provide a moral context in medicine from a legal perspective. Islamic teaching is also very flexible and adaptable to many new and novel situations. Islamic Ethics also upholds “the four principles” of biomedical ethics proposed by Beauchamp and Childress. Several authors claim that the roots of these principles are clearly identifiable in Islamic teachings. However, there are some differences in the applications of these principles. This article shed light on the roots of the four principles in Islamic teachings and elaborates on the differences between Islamic and contemporary western bioethics.

Ethics of Human Cloning: A Comparative Study of Western Secular and Islamic Bioethics Perspectives

The comparative approach regarding the ethics of surrogacy from the Western secular and Islamic bioethical view reveals both commensurable and incommensurable relationship. It is not either straight forward ‘commensurable’ or straight forward ‘incommensurable.’ Islamic bioethics is straight-forward in prohibiting reproductive cloning on its own features and also guess social chaos and anarchy. Western secular bioethics has both arguments and counter arguments both for and against this scientific innovation. Both are eager to highlight the welfare of the society as a whole but the approaches are not always the same. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v11i4.12595 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 11 No. 04 Oct’12