weber bioethical reasoning in islam.pdf

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International Journal of Arts and Sciences3(15): 607-617 (2010)

CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934

InternationalJournal.org

Bioethical Reasoning in Islam

A. S. Weber, WCMC-Q, Doha, Qatar

AbstractThis contribution surveys the process of bioethical reasoning in the Islamic

world, comparing it to western medical ethics, in an attempt to answer the broader

question of whether an international bioethics is feasible or even desirable. Islamic

medical ethics is primarily based on a morally absolute system of determining

medical ethical questions. Legal determination in Sunni Islam by Muslim

jurisconsults (muftis) of the four schools of Shariah law (Hanbali, Malaki, Shafii and

Hanafi) is a long-standing and well understood process of consulting the authoritative

texts and practices of Quran, Sunna, and Ahadith, then using consent of scholars

(ijma), analogies (qiyas), and finally invoking the principle of maslaha (publicbenefit) when authoritative texts are silent on a specific issue. These legal

determinations are the basis for both Islamic medical codes and individual decision-

making by Muslim doctors. This process contrasts markedly from western bioethical

judgments which derive from one of several sources: Hippocratism, Greek and

Roman philosophy, Judeo-Christian theology, casuistry, Benthamism, or Beauchamp

and Childresss four principles of medical ethics. To illustrate this difference, in the

case of a clear moral statement (explicit statement of what isfard, mandubor Sunnah,

mubah, makruh, and haraam) originating in Quran, a jurist will in general reject a

pragmatic or utilitarian medical argument if it contradicts the Quranic moral

principle. Thus Islamic bioethical decision-making tends to be non-consequentialist

and non-Benthamite in nature the purpose or end (telos) of life in Islam is toworship God, not to maximize human benefits or profits as in the Benthamite cost-

benefit analysis thinking which dominates managed care health systems and some

forms of bioethical reasoning in western countries.

Keywords: Bioethics, Islam, medical ethics reasoning

1. Introduction

The medical world would be a much simpler place if a universal bioethics could be

established through first principles or by consensus. Medical ethics courses could be

standardized internationally, organs could be routinely distributed across borders, and

medical personnel could move freely from country to country working under best

practices with respect to their expected behavior towards patients, colleagues, the

state, and the general public. This contribution will examine the process of reasoning

in western medical ethics (for comparative purposes, and to establish fundamental

definitions for discussion), and then compare these reasoning strategies to bioethical

determinations in Islam, in order to examine the question of the possibility and

desirability of a universal medical ethics.


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1.2 A Universal Bioethics?

For some writers on bioethics, ethical norms are by definition universals. G.B.

Tangwa, for example, writes: It would be more accurate to say that all ethical norms

or rules are cultural universals, because a rule or norm cannot properly be described

as ethical unless it is understood as having cross cultural validity, in the sense of

being perceived as applying in all similar circumstances, irrespective of place and

time (Tangwa, 2004: 63). Universalism in medical ethics is equally axiomatic for

two influential medical ethicists, Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress, who

call their primary ethical construct the common morality, a self-evident set of moral

precepts. They define the common morality as: the set of norms that all morally

serious persons share. The common morality contains moral norms that bind all

persons in all place (Beauchamp and Childress, 2008: 3). They continue: Sincevirtually everyone grows up with a basic understanding of the institutions of morality,

its norms are readily understood. All persons who are serious about living a moral life

already grasp the core dimensions of morality. They know not to lie, not to steal

property, to keep promises, to respect the rights of others, not to kill or cause harm to

innocent persons, and the like. All persons serious about morality are comfortable

with these rules and do not doubt their relevance and importance. They know that to

violate these norms without having a morally good and sufficient reason is immoral

and should lead to feelings of remorse. Because we are already convinced about such

matters, the literature of ethics does not debate them. Such debate would be a waste of

time (Beauchamp and Childress, 2008: 3).

Tangwas and Childress and Beauchamps arguments for the a prioriand axiomatic

philosophical status of ethical universals were probably best answered in antiquity by

AristotlesNicomachean Ethics: now questions of conduct and expedience.do not

fall under any art or professional tradition, but the agents are compelled at every step

to think out for themselves what the circumstances demand, just as happens in the arts

of medicine and navigation (Aristotle, 2.2.1104a). Aristotle later on in the same

treatise re-emphasizes this same point: Prudence is not concerned with universals

only; it must also take cognizance of particulars, because it is concerned with conduct,

and conduct has its sphere in particular circumstances (Aristotle, 6.7.1141b). For

Aristotle, specific moral dilemmas arise from very specific circumstances, thus the

danger of forcing individual cases to fit pre-defined moral universals or schemata. Onthe opposite pole from Tangwas universalism, Tim Cullinan writes, in consonance

with Aristotle: the great majority of the people of the world receive health care from

systems that neither share our mind-set, nor see any point in moving towards it.

international medical ethics, theoretically possible, certainly desirable, will remain

wildly improbable (Cullinan, 1994: 55).

As the sciences of human behavior are becoming increasingly grounded in genetics

and evolutionary biology, another ethical approach called the biological basis of

morality has gained some prominence. Could a common, shared morality be

biologically determined? i.e., could remorse and the feelings of sadness after

committing violence or wrongdoing against a member of ones kin group or tribe,

simply represent an evolutionary mechanism to strengthen kinship bonds for purposes


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of group survivability, which in turn increases the potential for survival of any one

individuals genetic inheritance? Edmund Wilson, drawing on earlier work of R.W.

Gerard and Peter Singer stated boldly in a 1998 Atlantic Monthly article: causal

explanations of brain activity and evolution, while imperfect, already cover most factsknown about behavior we term moral (Wilson, 1998; Gerard, 1942; Singer, 1981).

A universal medical ethics based on biology, however, is still highly problematic

since biological explanations of morality, while alluring, have not been

experimentally verified. The basis of ethics is especially problematic if we look at the

original nuances of the Greek word ethos, which can mean variously behavior,

customs, and morals. Very few would argue that cultures share the same customs

and behaviors, even in disguised or analogous forms. Different ethical approaches

may be grounded in fundamentally different ways of perceiving the world.

2. Modes of Bioethical Reasoning in Western Cultures

Western medical ethical questions are determined in a wide variety of ways. Below is

a description of the dominant modes.

2.1. The Four Principles Approach

The Four Principles Approach derives from the research and widely used textbooks of

ethicists Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress (Beauchamp and Childress,2008) and include: 1) Respect for autonomy respecting the decision-making

capacities of autonomous persons; 2) Nonmaleficence avoiding the causation of

harm; 3) Beneficence providing benefits and balancing benefits against risks and

costs; and 4) Justice distributing benefits, risks and costs fairly. These principles

have been incorporated into a number of medical oaths, codes, and professional

institutional by-laws, including (possibly due to the influence of the Islamic Medical

Association of North America and the European training of some Islamic medical

ethicists) theInternationalIslamic Code for Medical and Health Ethicspublished in

2005 (El-Gendy, 2005).

2.2. Hippocratism

Hippocrates is known as the father of medicine because of his reputation for close

clinical observation, and his seminal body of texts concerning the ethics and

profession of medicine, including the Hippocratic Oath (ORKOS). Other important

Hippocratic medical ethical texts include Decorum (PERI EUSHMOSUNHE), The

Law (NOMOS), The Physician (PERI IHTROU), and Precepts (PARAGGELIAI)

(Littr, 183963). Hippocratism established the western medical ethical principles of

justice, confidentiality, and working for the benefit of the sick. Hippocratic ethics was

both a deontological ethics (< Greek, = duty, obligation)which prescribed

certain duties to physician and patient, and a virtue ethics (seeAristotelianismbelow),describing the behavior of the good physician. The persistence of Hippocratism was


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demonstrated by Kao and Parsis 2000 survey of all 122 allopathic and 19 osteopathic

schools in the U.S., indicating that 49% of U.S. medical schools required a modified

form of the Hippocratic Oath or the original oath itself (Kao and Parsi, 2000: 883).

2.3. Kantianism

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) produced three primary works on morality: The

Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals(1785), The Critique of Practical Reason

(1788), and The Metaphysics of Morals (1797). Kant believed there was a single

moral obligation called the Categorical Imperative. All moral laws arise from this

imperative, and should be universal. All rational beings have certain inalienable

rights; thus Kant is frequently invoked in discussions of autonomy and rights-based

ethics in health care ethics discussions.

2.4 Christianity

Christianity, specifically Roman Catholicism, draws on the early Church fathers and

medieval theologians such as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine for guidance.

Modern Christian apologists attempt to align biomedical innovations with holy

scripture, and patristic biblical exegesis. Roman Catholics are important contributors

to modern ethical debates in medicine and science, in particular abortion and

reproductive technologies.

2.5 Aristotelianism

Aristotles two ethical treatises, the Nicomachean Ethics and the Eudemian Ethics

discuss eudaimonia () or having a happy spirit, and arte (),

excellence or virtue. His main ethical questions were how do goods such as

friendship, pleasure, virtue, honor and wealth contribute to a good or virtuous life.

Aristotle is concerned with social relations and his ethical approach is sometimes

characterized as a virtue ethics.

2.6. Libertarianism

This political philosophy or worldview places extreme emphasis on individual

autonomy: actions are good if they respect or do not limit the freedom of the

individual. Libertarianism is a form of radical individualism.

2.7 Utilitarianism or Benthamism

Jeremy Bentham (17481832) exercised a profound influence over 19th century

English thought. Benthams philosophy of Utilitarianism forms the basis of health

care economics (cost-benefit, cost effectiveness analyses). A utilitarian action is good

to the extent that it maximizes aggregate utility (benefits) to the community. On an

individual level, utility can be measured by feelings of pleasure and pain. A good act

is one that maximizes pleasure, and minimizes pain. Utilitarianism is aconsequentialist ethics, in that it deals with the consequences of actions (end


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products). Utilitarianisms credo is "the greatest good for the greatest number of

people or Utility. Benthams disciple John Stuart Mill wrote: the greatest

happiness principle holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote

happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness (Mill, 1863).

2.8 Casuistical Reasoning (Casuistry)

In Christianity and Judaism during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, casuistry

represented a form of case-based moral reasoning grounded in real cases rather than

abstract principles or theories. Casuistry uses paradigmatic precedent cases, then

reasons about the new case by analogy. This form of moral reasoning has had a bad

reputation after Blaise Pascals blistering attack on Jesuit casuistry as deceitful

sophistry in hisLettres provinciales(16567), although Stephen Toulmin and Albert

Jonson attempted to rehabilitate the practice in their 1988 history of casuistry

(Toulmin 1988). Much of the practical day-to-day biomedical reasoning (such as

disciplinary actions by hospital ethics boards) is broadly casuistical in nature, being a

case-based endeavor. Casuistry is one of the primary foundations of English common

law.

3 Islamic Approaches to Biomedical Reasoning

The idea of medicine as a distinct, specialized profession requiring regulation and

prescribed professional conduct predates both Islam and western medicine. During the

pre-Islamic period known as the age of ignorance (Jahiliyya), the Babylonian Code

of Hammurabi (Codex Hammurabi) of ca. 1790 B.C. first clearly outlined medicalmalpractice: If a surgeon performs a major operation on an 'awelum' (nobleman),

with a bronze lancet and caused the death of this man, they shall cut off his hands

(Halwani and Takrouri, 2007). After the region had been Islamicized, the Caliph Al-

Mugtadir from the Abbasid dynasty, ordered the Chief Court-Physician Sinan Ibn-

Thabit in 931 A.D. to screen the 860 physicians of Baghdad, and only those qualified

were granted license to practice (al-Ghazal, 2004). Thus Islam has a long medical

ethical tradition derived from native Semitic and Persian sources, as opposed to

Greek, Indian, or European intellectual movements.

3.1 Textual and Judicial Sources of Islamic Medical EthicalDecisions

A significant source of Islamic medical ethics resides in the judicial opinions (sing.

fatwa, pl.fatawa) issued by muftis responding to specific questions posed to them by

individuals. Modernfatawaare subsequently gathered into collections, such as in Al

Fatawa Al-Islamiyah (al-Musnad, n.d.) and Fatawa Islamiyya li Majmua min Al-

Ulama Al-Afadil. As Rispler-Chaim explains: Contemporary Islamic medical ethics

is typically conveyed in the form of an individual fatwa (judicial opinion) issued

by a mufti (juris consult). A fatwa is usually issued in response to a supposedly real

but sometimes hypothetical question addressed to the mufti by a Muslim man orwoman, or by some governmental agency or officer (Rispler-Chaim, in Baker, 465).


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In Sunni Islam, jurists will pronounce opinions in accordance with one of the

established schools of law: Hanafi, Malaki, Shafii, or Hanbali. Thus using western

categories, the process of consulting the Quranic textual authority would classifyShariah-based Islamic medical ethics as a deontological ethics, that is, based on

foundational moral duties and obligations as expressed in an authoritative textual

hierarchy. This hierarchy consists of Quran (Allahs revealed truth to Prophet

Mohammed, Sunna (acts of the Prophet), and Ahadith (collected sayings of the

prophet attributed to him by other speakers). If these texts cannot provide unequivocal

answers, jurists turn to the consent of scholars (ijma), analogies (qiyas), and then

finally invoking the principle of maslaha(public benefit) if necessary.

Increasingly, Islamic medical codes are being formulated by Muslim medical

professionals. They normally meet in conferences or congresses, examine the relevant

medical fatawa by respected muftis, fuqaha (jurisprudence experts), and ulema(scholars), integrate these opinions with current medical opinion, and issue guiding

statements. Organizations that have carried out this process include the Islamic

Medical Association of North America (IMANA) in its series of perspective papers

and the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences based in Kuwait. In 2005, IOMS

published the comprehensive International Islamic Code for Medical and Health

Ethics(El-Gendy, 2005). The code was developed from a meeting of Islamic medical

and judicial experts on December 1114, 2004 in Cairo, Egypt.

3.2 Islamic Virtue Ethics

The focus of this article is the medical ethics in Sunni Islam (the dominant form of

Islamic practice in the world), although Iranian writers following Shiaa Islam have

developed a substantial body of bioethical research and debate, and in practice, Iran

has developed several unique medical ethical innovations such as a controversial

kidney donor system (Mahdanian, 2008). Also, Turkish writers have been frequent

contributors to recent debates on Islamic ethics.

Islam has a tradition of professional medical ethics, Adab or Akhlaq which isboth

analogous and historically related to Aristotelian virtue ethics. Also, the Hippocratic

Oath and other works of Hippocrates and Galen (Unani Tibbin Arabic) were known

to Islamic physicians (Khan, 2007) and a section of Galens commentary on theHippocratic Oath has survived in Arabic (Rosenthal, 1990). A similarity in basic

principles can be seen in Hippocrates dictum Primum non nocere (first do no

harm) as compared with the widely applied principle of Shariah law la darar wa la

dirar or there shall be no harm inflicted or reciprocated, which applies to all areas

of Islamic life, but is also frequently invoked in medicalfatawa.

Ali bin Sahl Rabban at-Tabari (d. 855) wrote in his Firdaus al-Hikma fi al-tibb[The

Paradise of Wisdom in Medicine] In [Physicians], five qualities are united which are

united in no others. The first of these is the continuous care of that from which they

hope to provide well-being for everyone, second, their battle with illness and with

suffering which is hidden from their view; third, respect for kings and the common

people who have great need of their services; fourth, the agreement of all people with


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respect to their skill; fifth, the name for them, which is borrowed from the name of

God (Baker et. al, 2009: 276.) Similarly, the Adab al-Tabib by Al-Ruhawi states

train by employing good morals and actions with sympathy, mercy, gentleness,

chastity, courage, generosity, justice. Do not aim for an excess of worldly riches(Levey, 1967).

Thus, many moral dilemmas or moral problems in medical praxis can be solved, or

will never arise, simply by visiting a virtuous physician as outlined in the Islamic

virtue ethics tradition. The criteria for the virtuous Islamic physician is similar to

reliable legal witnesses in Shariah law: Muslim patients should assume their

physician is a) an adult Muslim, b) sane, c) unbiased, d) and adil, which means

possessing a good and blameless reputation.

4 Principle of Maslaha and Consequentialist Ethics in Islam

Besides referring to textual authority, one other principle of law can be used when

analogies are not sufficient: the principle of common benefit or maslaha. Maslaha

appears to have points in common with Benthams principle of utility or aggregate

good. Do Islamic medical ethics therefore possibly possess a consequentialist aspect?

Abdulaziz Sachedina provides the following case illustrating the use of

consequentialist ethical reasoning in Islam: A Muslim before dying has swallowed a

valuable object belonging to a Muslim orphan. Is it permissable to dissect the cadaver

to retrieve the object? Many Sunni jurists have said Yes because of the

consequences. The swallowed object may form part of the orphans inheritance. The

consequences to the orphan, the loss of his right to his inheritance, outweighs thefoundational Islamic moral principle of not violating the dignity of the dead

(Sachedina, 2009: 8). The rights of orphans, the subject of several passages in the

Quran, form a strong concern in Islam, undoubtedly because Prophet Muhammed

himself was an orphan and knew that they needed special protections. Similarly, for

new medical technologies, such as cloning and embryonic stem cell research, Islamic

jurists by necessity will sometimes employ consequentialist arguments, such as

weighing the benefits to society.

The writings of Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a resident of Qatar and a highly respected

Muslim scholar, also sometimes reflect consequentialist reasoning when he has

written about medical ethical issues. During the human cloning debates of the 1990safter Dolly the Sheep became the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic

cell, Qaradawi dismissed the Scientists are playing God arguments about human

cloning prevalent in the West, declaring: no one can challenge or oppose God's will.

Hence, if the matter is achieved then it is certainly under the will of God. Nothing can

be created without God's will creating it. As long as humans continue to do so, it is

the will of God. Actually, we do not search for the question whether it is in accord

with the will of God (Qaradawi in Sachedina, 1998).

Instead, Sheikh Qaradawi looks at the effect (consequences) of cloning on the Muslim

family. The fundamental ethical question, as Qaradawi states, is whether this

procedure interferes with growing up in a family that is founded upon fatherhood and


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motherhood. It is in a family that the child is nurtured to become a person

(Sachedina, 1998).

Communitarian values tend to override individual rights in Islamic countries.Autonomy, however, an individuals right to medical decision-making about their

own bodies, is a central feature of Western medical ethics. Numerous examples which

can be readily drawn from any Arabian Gulf hospital demonstrate that families and

male guardians demand and expect to be part of the medical decision making process.

Family concerns can take precedence over individual patient concerns. Thus a

fundamental principle of Western medical ethics, the respect for autonomy in

Beauchamp and Childresss four-principle schema, is simply viewed from a different

cultural standpoint in the West and in Islamic societies.

5 Precedence of Clearly Defined Quranic Principlesover Consequentialism

In Islamic medical ethic a pragmatic (utilitarian) argument will never take precedence

over a clearly articulated principle originating in the Quran. However, Islamic

jurisprudence does maintain the important principle of maslaha, or public benefit,

which could be loosely construed as Benthams utility. But even a bioethical

argument deriving from perceived public or personal benefit cannot override Quranic

injunction, being unanimously viewed as the word of God by the Muslim ummah.

For example, The Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) states:

We believe infertility is a disease and desire for a cure by an infertile couple isnatural (IMANA, 2005). IMANA is therefore in principle supportive of Assisted

Reproductive Technologies (ART), due to the importance of family, the blessings of

children, as well as pragmatically the pro-natalist policies in some Muslim countries,

particularly the Gulf, in which foreign expatriate workers substantially outnumber the

local populations.

But the Quran says: It is He who has created man from water: then has He

established relationships of lineage and marriage: for thy Lord has power (over all

things) (25: 54). Based partly on this verse, IMANA has forbidden certain assisted

reproductive procedures such as surrogate motherhood as well as sperm and ova

donations between non-related donors because this violates the injunction of mixing

lineages (nasab) and therefore would technically result in adultery or fornication

(zina) (IMANA, 2005: 7).

Therefore the Quranic rule is used by IMANA, after reviewing the appropriate

fatawa, to restrict certain forms of ART and surrogacy despite the obvious benefits to

the infertile couple and benefits to Islam of increasing the number of faithful (ummah)

and providing children to faithful parents (a blessing in Islam).

6 Conclusion


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As we have seen, in Islam the primary source of moral reasoning is in Gods

commandments and acts and sayings of Prophet Muhammed, which is derived from

an agreed upon authoritative hierarchy of Quran, Sunna, Hadith, Shariah law based

on these sources, and fatawa achieved by appeal to the several forms of reasoningoutlined above.

In the West, in contrast, we find a wider range of sources of moral reasoning in

medical ethics, including Judeo-Christian theology and Greek and Roman philosophy.

Specifically, in medicine, Hippocrates has been the primary source of professional

ethics, and Aristotle and Plato for the virtue ethics of the physician. Due to the

syncretism of such Islamic medical authors as Ibn sina, who synthesized much of

previous Greek medical knowledge during the Middle Ages, and the translation

movements of Baghdad and later Salerno and Andalusia, western and Islamic medical

ethical traditions have experienced some overlap.

An in-depth comparison of Islamic and western secular bioethics by Sharmin Islam in

his 2008 Ph.D. thesis for the Universiti Sains Malaysia on Assisted Reproductive

Technologies (ART) came to essentially the same general conclusion as this study

and therefore serves as a good final statement: The findings of the study are that

Western Secular Bioethics in relation to ART holds a consequential colour while

Islamic Bioethics has both a deontological and consequential tone. Hence, broadly

speaking, these two systems of bioethics hold an incommensurable relation to each

other (Islam, 2008). Due to the difference in modes of bioethical reasoning, and the

differing historical circumstances and viewpoints of Islamic and non-Islamic cultures

(although all modern medicine has been strongly impacted at one point by

Hippocrates), a universal medical ethics will probably not be feasible in the near or

distant future.

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