Biomedical ethics is a burgeoning academic field with complex and far-reaching consequences. Whereas in Western secular bioethics this subject falls within larger ethical theories and applications (utilitarianism, deontology, teleology, and the like), Islamic biomedical ethics has yet to find its natural academic home in Islamic studies.
In this pioneering work, Abdulaziz Sachedina - a scholar with life-long academic training in Islamic law - relates classic Muslim religious values to the new ethical challenges that arise from medical research and practice. He depends on Muslim legal theory, but then looks deeper than juridical practice to search for the underlying reasons that determine the rightness or wrongness of a particular action. Drawing on the work of diverse Muslim theologians, he outlines a form of moral reasoning that can derive and produce decisions that underscore the spirit of the Shari'a. These decisions, he argues, still leave room to revisit earlier decisions and formulate new ones, which in turn need not be understood as absolute or final. After laying out this methodology, he applies it to a series of ethical questions surrounding the human life-cycle from birth to death, including such issues as abortion, euthanasia, and organ donation.
The implications of Sachedina's work are broad. His writing is unique in that it aims at conversing with Jewish and Christian ethics, moving beyond the Islamic fatwa literature to search for a common language of moral justification and legitimization among the followers of the Abrahamic traditions. He argues that Islamic theological ethics be organically connected with the legal tradition of Islam to enable it to sit in dialogue with secular and scripture-based bioethics in other faith communities. A breakthrough in Islamic bioethical studies, this volume is welcome and long-overdue reading for anyone interested in facing the difficult questions posed by modern medicine not only to the Muslim faithful but to the ethically-minded at large.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
while clearly directed to an academic audience, nonetheless raises substantive challenges for secular bioethics discourse, health policy, and especially for ethical reflection within the Islamic faith community ... Sachedina's is a courageous book. He does not back away from critique of Muslim religious scholarship, which he finds has failed to provide religous and moral empowerment to Muslims in general, and in the health-care context in particular. * Courtney S. Campbell, Journal of the American Academy of Religion *
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Scholars and students of Islamic law and ethics, medical ethics
Maße
Höhe: 234 mm
Breite: 156 mm
Dicke: 16 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-19-986023-4 (9780199860234)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Abdulaziz Sachedina is Francis Myers Ball Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia.
Autor*in
Francis Myers Ball Professor of Religious StudiesFrancis Myers Ball Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia
1. Introduction ; 2. In Search of Principles of Healthcare Ethics in Islam ; 3. Health and Suffering ; 4. The Beginning of Life ; 5. Terminating Early Life ; 6. Death and Dying ; 7. Organ Donation and Cosmetic Enhancement ; 8. Islamic Bioethics - Recent Developments ; 9. Epilogue ; Glossary ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index
