The Wisdom of the Body: Science, Medicine and Epistemology
Volkan Stodolsky, Ph.D., M. Phil., M.A., Chair, Department of Islamic Law, Darul Qasim
Contemporary medicine primarily aims to prevent harm to human health before death, whereas Islamic law and bioethics aim to prevent harm to human life both before death and in the eternal life after death. As long as medical treatments are not harmful to one’s eternal life, developments in medicine pose no problem to Islamic law, since Islamic law permits medical treatment. Dialogue needs to and does occur between Muslim jurists and medical professionals concerning treatments that are harmful to one’s eternal life according to the authoritative statements of the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammed.
This paper discusses one arena of dialogue between Muslim jurists and healthcare professionals, the medical use of prohibited substances in Islamic law. How have Muslim jurists taken account of treatments involving prohibited substances that are according to medical professionals possibly beneficial to human health? The paper focuses on the discussion of this issue in the Hanafi school of Islamic law, which is the oldest extant Islamic legal school and the one with the greatest number of followers. The paper argues that the evaluation of the issue in the Hanafi school is directly based upon its epistemic criteria and that these criteria can be applied to contemporary bioethical discussions.
Contemporary medicine primarily aims to prevent harm to human health before death, whereas Islamic law and bioethics aim to prevent harm to human life both before death and in the eternal life after death. As long as medical treatments are not harmful to one’s eternal life, developments in medicine pose no problem to Islamic law, since Islamic law permits medical treatment. Dialogue needs to and does occur between Muslim jurists and medical professionals concerning treatments that are harmful to one’s eternal life according to the authoritative statements of the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammed.
This paper discusses one arena of dialogue between Muslim jurists and healthcare professionals, the medical use of prohibited substances in Islamic law. How have Muslim jurists taken account of treatments involving prohibited substances that are according to medical professionals possibly beneficial to human health? The paper focuses on the discussion of this issue in the Hanafi school of Islamic law, which is the oldest extant Islamic legal school and the one with the greatest number of followers. The paper argues that the evaluation of the issue in the Hanafi school is directly based upon its epistemic criteria and that these criteria can be applied to contemporary bioethical discussions.