This book presents a critical analysis of the debate in Muslim countries at the religious, legal and political level, sparked by the introduction of new biomedical technologies such as cloning, genetics, organ transplants and in vitro fertilisation. The book draws on law, sociology, anthropology, politics and the history of science. For this reason it will be of interest to scholars and operators in a wide variety of disciplines and fields.

Islamic Bioethics presents a wide variety of perspectives and debates on how Islamic societies deal with the ethical dilemmas raised by biomedicine and new technologies. The book is a 'constructive dialogue' between contributors selected from a multidisciplinary group of Muslim and non-Muslim scholars from different Islamic countries. The 11 chapters illuminate the diversity and complexity of the issues discussed in Islamic bioethics and pave the way to a better understanding of Islamic bioethics and dialogue in the global bioethics community. The chapters take both theoretical and practical approaches to the topic, and each covers an emerging issue in Islamic bioethics.This book will be useful for academics and professional institutions in both Islamic and non-Islamic countries, and will be instrumental in providing researchers, scholars, students, policymakers and medical professionals with access to the latest issues and debates related to Islamic bioethics.Contributors include: Tariq Ramadan, Abdallah Daar, Ali Albar, Mohsin Ebrahim, Baharouddin Azizan Alastair Campbel, Bagher Larijani, Carol Taylor, Gamal Serour, James Rusthoven, Ilhan Ilkilic, Ingrid Mattson, Hassan Chamsi-Pasha, Jonathan Crane, Hakan Ertin, Mehunisha Suleman.

Looking Beneath the Surface explores Arab-Islamic and Western perspectives on medical ethical issues: genetic research and treatment, abortion, organ donation, and palliative sedation and euthanasia. The contributions in this volume discuss the state of the (medical) art, the role of laws, counseling, and spiritual counseling in the decision-making process. The different approaches to the ethical issues, ways of moral reasoning, become clear in these contributions, especially the role of tradition for Islam and the importance of autonomy for the West. Beneath the differences, however, the reader will also discover common values, such as the role of dignity and the value of life, and similar practices. Some of the main differences are sociocultural in nature, rather than religious as such. Well-known experts in the fields of medicine and ethics have contributed to this volume from different religious and secular backgrounds. The book offers a carefully written introduction and final chapter on intercultural comparisons. Looking Beneath the Surface is more than a collection of writings on issues in medical ethics: it helps the reader to compare different paradigms of accountability and moral reasoning.

This book discusses the common principles of morality and ethics derived from divinely endowed intuitive reason through the creation of al-fitr' a (nature) and human intellect (al-‘aql). Biomedical topics are presented and ethical issues related to topics such as genetic testing, assisted reproduction and organ transplantation are discussed. Whereas these natural sources are God’s special gifts to human beings, God’s revelation as given to the prophets is the supernatural source of divine guidance through which human communities have been guided at all times through history. The second part of the book concentrates on the objectives of Islamic religious practice – the maqa' sid – which include: Preservation of Faith, Preservation of Life, Preservation of Mind (intellect and reason), Preservation of Progeny (al-nasl) and Preservation of Property. Lastly, the third part of the book discusses selected topical issues, including abortion, assisted reproduction devices, genetics, organ transplantation, brain death and end-of-life aspects. For each topic, the current medical evidence is followed by a detailed discussion of the ethical issues involved.

Ethics of Assisted Reproductive Medicine compares and contrasts Western and Islamic models of bioethics to make the case that the Islamic perspective (taken from the Qur’an and the Sunnah) provides a viable and clear alternative that goes beyond the dominance of the secular and its various philosophical bases, to give Revelation and spiritual understanding precedence. Human cloning, surrogacy, and IVF, are some of the more hotly contested topics. The author analyzes these rigorously and objectively, addressing the perspectives of both the secular Western and Islamic models, and fundamentally how each has chosen to framework its own understanding of the issues at hand. In discussing these issues, keeping to principles, the author charts the way out of a confused circle of opinion that is making it very hard to decide “what is best”.

In search of principles of health care in Islam -- Health and suffering -- Beginning of life -- Terminating early life -- Death and dying -- Organ donation and cosmetic enhancement -- Recent developments -- Epilogue.

This proposed collection will contribute to the development of the promising but still nascent field of Islamic bioethics. Bioethics is a multidisciplinary area of scholarship that brings together diverse perspectives from different disciplines cutting across the divide between the life sciences on the one hand and the humanities and social sciences on the other. To date, there are few monographs and edited volumes that focus on Islamic bioethics, and this proposed collection will help researchers and scholars in this area by bringing together some of the important journal articles that address the rapidly developing field of Islamic bioethics from a number of perspectives. The collection will seek to incorporate and reflect the multidisciplinary character of this new field of study by including articles that explore the relationship between Islam and bioethics from the vantage point of history, theology, philosophy, law, anthropology, or sociology, not to mention medical and clinical practice. In this collection the term Islamic bioethics will be used to cover both studies that address the Islamic normative perspective on biomedical issues or problems as well as studies that focus on discussions on such issues or problems within a Muslim context or as they relate to Muslim populations either in Muslim-majority countries or in Muslim-minority settings. This new collection should appeal mainly to researchers and scholars in the academic disciplines mentioned above but it should also appeal to professionals in fields including medicine, nursing, administration, and law. It should enrich curricula on bioethics in general especially for courses that seek to incorporate a comparative perspective.

Islamic Perspectives on the Principles of Biomedical Ethics presents results from a pioneering seminar in 2013 between Muslim religious scholars, biomedical scientists, and Western bioethicists at the research Center for Islamic Legislation & Ethics, Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies. By examining principle-based bioethics, the contributors to this volume addressed a number of key issues related to the future of the field. Discussion is based around the role of religion in bioethical reasoning, specifically from an Islamic perspective. Also considered is a presentation of the concept of universal principles for bioethics, with a response looking at the possibility (or not) of involving religion. Finally, there is in-depth analysis of how far specific disciplines within the Islamic tradition — such as the higher objectives of Sharia (maqāṣid al-Sharī'ah) and legal maxims (qawā'id fiqhīyah) — can enrich principle-based bioethics.