Abstract
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.
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Notes
See also a similar debate in the December 2012 issue of The American Journal of Bioethics on the role of religion in bioethics triggered by Timothy Murphy’s argument against the involvement of religion in bioethics (Murphy 2012, 3–10).
On the various limitations of this document, see (Macpherson 2007, 588–90)
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Acknowledgments
This publication was made possible by NPRP Grant # [5-1390-6-043] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). It has also been supported by Qatar Foundation Research Excellence Award. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the author.
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Shabana, A. Religious and cultural legitimacy of bioethics: lessons from Islamic bioethics. Med Health Care and Philos 16, 671–677 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-013-9472-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-013-9472-6