Formulating an Islamic model of science and bioethics

Formulating an Islamic model of science and bioethics

Bouzenita, Anke Iman

2009/00/00

English

20090000

This article formulates a model of Islamic science, medicine, and bioethics, part of the ongoing inner-Islamic discourse on the positioning of Islam vis-à-vis the life sciences and bioethics as developed within a non-Islamic context. It investigates the Islam-and-science paradigm considering the Islamic categorization of the sciences, provides a working definition of Islamic science including medicine and bioethics, and underlines the importance of Muslim legal rulings on these models. This paper concludes that a universal model of science exists, and it is applicable to all systems based on specific world views. It is essential to be aware of the different models and separate universal knowledge from value-orientated interpretation and usage. Ideologically generated knowledge produced within a non-Islamic framework needs to be thoroughly scrutinized for conformity to Islamic concepts. It is rather the presence or absence of an enacted Islamic reference framework that contextualizes life sciences as being Islamic. Bioethics, however, are initially bound by the Islamic value system as enacted by legal ruling.

2.1

2.1;1.2

bioethics--[pri];Islamic ethics--[pri];knowledge--[pri];science--[pri]

brain death;fiqh;ijtihad;medical ethics;sharia;secularism;Western world

ilm--[pri];Islamic bioethics--[pri];thaqafa--[pri]

Journal of the Islamic Medical Association2009;41(3):114-121

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

citation

15 refs

08998299 (print)