A Critique of Contemporary Islamic Bioethics

Abstract

Last year marked a decade since the publication of the book "Islamic Biomedical Ethics" by religious studies professor Abdulaziz Sachedina in which he called for a critical and rigorous analytical approach to the ethical inquiry of biomedical issues from an Islamic perspective. Since the publication of this landmark work, some authors have continued to call into question the ways in which Islam as a religious tradition is engaged with in the secular bioethics literature. This paper describes common argumentative issues with current Islamic bioethics scholarship and offers general pearls and strategies to facilitate better engagement with religious approaches to bioethical issues.

Keywords: Bioethics methodology; Critical analysis; Islamic bioethics; Islamic studies; Religious studies.