Muslim Medical Ethics: From Theory to Practice » (New Edition)

Jonathan E. Brockopp is an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies and History at Pennsylvania State University. He is coauthor with Jacob Neusner and Tamara Sonn of Judaism and Islam in Practice: A Sourcebook and editor of Islamic Ethics of Life: Abortion, War, and Euthanasia.
Thomas Eich is an assistant professor at the Seminar for Oriental Studies at the Tübingen University in Germany and the author of Islam und Bioethik and Moderne Medizin und Islamische Ethik.

Muslim Medical Ethics draws on the work of historians, health-care professionals, theologians, and social scientists to produce an interdisciplinary view of medical ethics in Muslim societies and of the impact of caring for Muslim patients in non-Muslim societies. Edited by Jonathan E. Brockopp and Thomas Eich, the volume challenges traditional presumptions of theory and practice to demonstrate the ways in which Muslims balance respect for their heritage with the health issues of a modern world.
Like members of many other faiths, Muslims are deeply engaged by the technological challenges posed by modern biomedicine, and they respond to those challenges with enormous creativity-whether as patients, doctors, or religious scholars. Muslim Medical Ethics demonstrates that religiously based cultural norms often inform medical practice, and vice versa, in an ongoing discourse. The contributors map the breadth and boundaries of this discourse through discussions of contested issues on the cutting edge of ethical debates, from fertilized embryos in Saudi Arabia to patient autonomy in Toronto, from organ trafficking in Egypt to sterilization in Tanzania.
As the authors illustrate, the effects of Muslim medical ethics have ramifications beyond the Muslim world. With growing populations of Muslims in North America and Europe, Western physicians and health-care workers should be educated on the special needs of this category of patients. In every essay the richness of the Islamic tradition is visible. In the premodern period Muslim physicians were considered among the best in the world, building and improving on Greek and Indian traditions. Muslim physicians today continue that traditionwhile incorporating scientific advances. Scholars of Islamic law work closely with physicians to develop ethical guidelines for national and international bodies, and individual Muslims take full advantage of advances in medicine and religious law, combining them with the wisdom of Sufism and traditions of family and community. This exploration of Muslim medical ethics is therefore a foray into the richness and sophistication of the Islamic tradition itself.
Designed as an engaging point of entrance for students in religious studies, anthropology, ethics, and medical humanities, this pathbreaking volume also has utility for health-care professionals and policy makers.

Series Editor's Preface vii

Preface ix

Introduction: Medical Ethics and Muslim Perspectives Thomas Eich Jonathan E. Brockopp 1

Part 1 Before the Biomedical Paradigm

Overview 17

The Ethics of the Physician in the Galeno-Islamic Tradition Samar Farage 21

Enduring the Plague: Ethical Behavior in the Fatwas of a Fourteenth-Century Mufti and Theologian Justin Stearns 38

Part 2 Normative Muslim Medical Discourses

Overview 57

Decision-Making Processes among Contemporary 'Ulama': Islamic Embryology and the Discussion of Frozen Embryos Thomas Eich 61

Rethinking Islamic Legal Ethics in Egypt's Organ Transplant Debate Sherine Hamdy 78

Part 3 Norms and Their (Non-)Application

Overview 97

Competing Needs and Pragmatic Decision-Making: Islam and Permanent Contraception in Northern Tanzania Susi Krehbiel Keefe 101

Male Infertility in Mali: Kinship and Impacts on Biomedical Practice in Bamako Viola Horbst 118

Islam, Organ Transplants, and Organ Trafficking in the Muslim World: Paving a Path for Solutions Debra Budiani Othman Shibly 138

Ethical and Legal Implications in Assisted Reproductive Technology: Perspective Analysis of the Gulf Cooperative Council States Hamza Eskandarani 151

Part 4 Muslims in Clinical Settings in North America and Europe

Overview 163

The Permissibility of Organ Donation, End-of-Life Care, and Autopsy in Shiite Islam: A Case Study Iqbal H. Jaffer Shabbir M. H. Alibhai 167

A Comparative Analysis of Islamic and Jewish End-of-Life Ethics: A Case-Based Approach Shabbir M. H. Alibhai Michael Gordon 182

Medication and God at Interplay: End-of-Life Decision-Making in Practicing Male Moroccan Migrants Livingin Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium Stef Van den Branden Bert Broeckaert 194

Part 5 Teaching Muslim Medical Ethics

Overview 211

Reporting on "Islamic Bioethics" in the Medical Literature: Where Are the Experts? Hasan Shanawani Mohammad Hassan Khalil 213

Islamic Medical Ethics: What and How to Teach Hassan Bella 229

Defining the Pedagogical Parameters of Islamic Bioethics Abdulaziz Sachedina 241

Conclusion Marcia C. Inhorn 252

Glossary 257

Bibliography 261

Contributors 285

Qur'an Citations 289

Index 291