Set 2: Ethics - Bioethics - Islam

Question 1:
a) Outline the major sources of Islamic ethics.
- Hadith
- Ijma
- Qiyas
b) Indicate two other sources that may be used in Islamic bioethics
- Quran
- Sunnah
c) List and describe briefly six Islamic ethical teachings on bioethics
1. Set nothing beside Allah: Put Allah before anything else
2. Treat your parents with honour: Don’t disrespect your parents
3. Do not kill your children for fear of poverty. Allah will provide
4. Have nothing to do with impurity, either in the mind or body
5. Kill no one protected by Allah, unless you have proper cause
6. Do not touch an orphan’s property, except to increase it

d) Defining the following which help explain the different ethical views between
islam sects:
i) Mahdi: Shi’ia believe in the return of Mahdi. A messianic figure who is believed to
appear at the end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice.
ii) Mujtahid: a qualified Jurist/scholar who is qualified to exercise Islamic law.
iii) Taqlid: For Shia: it signifies adopting the rulings of a qualified Jurist. For Sunni: it
means following any one of the four major schools of thought founded by imams from
the ninth to eleventh centuries.
e) Explain the reasons why ethical decisions made by the different sects of Islam
are not universal.
- Shi’ia believe in adopting the rulings of a qualified Mujtahid whereas Sunni believe in
following any one of the four major schools of thought, Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki, Shafi’i.

Question 2:
Describe and explain Islamic ethical teachings on Bioethics for two of the following:
1. Organ Transplantation
● Practised in almost all Muslim countries
● Usually kidney donations from living relatives
● Mutilation and cremation is strictly prohibited in Islam
2. Abortion
● Full human life begins only after the ensoulment of the foetus
● Most Muslim scholars agree that ensoulment occurs at about 120 days
● Abortion has been allowed after implantation and before ensoulment in cases
in which they were adequate juridical or medical reasons -- accepted reasons
have included rape
● However, many Shias and Sunnis have generally not permitted abortion at
any stage after implantation, even before ensoulment unless the mother’s life
is in danger