Abstract: Organ transplantation and donation: Islamic Jurisprudential perspectives and recent medical technological inventions on organ transplants. Organ donation is a product of medical research and advancements in the 21st century. It has elicited strong opinions on the bioethical, religious and legal conundrums associated with its’ therapeutic application amongst scholars and laymen alike. In recent times Islamic bioethics has evolved as a distinct area of academic scholarship that stems from the corpus of Islamic Jurisprudence to address the religious and legal dilemmas facing patients, donors, medical practitioners, families, lawmakers and society in understanding and managing the social changes connected with new medical technologies. Islamic jurisprudence provides the framework for jurists via the application of the legal precept of ijtihad (analogical reasoning) in conjunction with the concept of Maqasid al Shariah (The higher intents and purposes of the law) to devise new rulings on paradigm bioethical cases such as organ donation. This paper aims to combine the two main concepts of this conference: (1) Islamic Jurisprudential Perspectives on organ transplants and donation, and (2) Organ Transplants and Donation in light of recent inventions in Modern Medicine. It will analyse the Islamic jurisprudential rulings (fatwas) derived by Islamic Juristic scholars on organ transplantation and donation in Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Europe with a view to gaining critical insights into the evolution of these rulings and why there are divergent opinions on the issue. The analysis will include an examination of the ethical, legal and religious points expounded by jurists in the rulings, as supported by Islamic precedents’ and evidence from the normative sources of the Quran and Sunnah, in tandem with current medical and scientific knowledge in relation to organ donation and transplantation. Then, the discussion will focus on the diverse role of Islamic jurisprudence in shaping ethically sound laws in light of modernity and medical developments vis a vis the case of organ transplantation and donation, in medical advancements such as stem cell research. Recent developments in the area of stem cell research show there is great potential in the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer procedures to clone organs specifically for transplant and use the of stem cell therapy to reverse necrosis in organ tissues. These new biomedical technologies would mean the revision of Islamic rulings on organ transplants and donation as the human interests in terms of the higher intents and purposes of the law and the status quo, has morphed into a different case necessitating a new legal ruling(fatwa). It is imperative that these bioethical questions are explored as it provides valuable insight to Muslims, medical practitioners, ethicists, sociologists and scholars in related fields of scholarship on the system of Islamic law and the central role it plays in responding to new social phenomenon and realities, deriving laws on the grey areas of social interaction for individuals and society in matters of law and ethics, whilst maintaining relevance for Islam in modernity. Signatures Razia Ghaznavi and Dr Derya Iner: Razia Ghaznavi: Masters Student in CISAC (CSU) Dr Derya Iner: Lecturer and Research Fellow : Higher Degree Research Co-ordinator
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 12:24:43 +0000
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