Last night, (starting at 6:15 PM EST), I attended an online meeting that discussed clinical/medical bioethics and Islam. It was organized by Columbia University.
Below are a few take-aways.
One of the things that struck me is that the knowledge and experiences contributed by the three panel members are also very useful in for example the dialogue between liberals and democrats on the one hand and republicans on the other. Objections made by republicans are also often faith-based, even though that comes from within a very different setup. It’s too easy to simply reject everything that republicans say and ridicule them.
(I was also reminded of discussions with a Jewish friend who is a rabbi and studies many of the old writings within the Jewish faith.)
Islam is not one fixed set of rules and beliefs, like any other faith. For starters, there is the difference between Sunni and Shia.
Organ donation is generally accepted as permissible in Iran but not in Iraq, as an example. Organ donation can be viewed as an act of aggression against the human body (God’s creation).
Generally speaking, longevity is more important than quality of life for muslims.
That brings me to the following. It is generally assumed that “muslim” equals “Arabic” but Arabs make up only 20% of the muslim population. (I think that Indonesia, a country with strong historic ties to the Netherlands, is the largest muslim nation.)
Muslims make up 24.9% of the global population.
In the US, however, they make up only 1.1% of the population.
The need for dignity (as ill-defined as it may be) is universal, but the need for modesty is not and the need to consult with other family members and with clerics about medical decisions to be made is not universal either. Those latter two needs must be respected and taken into account too, however.
Spiritual wellbeing can also be part of good health. One of the panel members told the story of how she, as a physician in Saudi Arabia, had been confronted with a Nigerian woman who was on the hajj (the holy pilgrimage to Mekka), but had needed orthopedic surgery. She initially experienced her as a loud and angry woman and eventually decided to ignore her. At the end of the day, however, she returned to the woman and said a few prayers in Arabic with her. That – as it turned out – was all that this woman needed. She instantly quieted down and thankfully grabbed the physician’s hands. Her anguish had to do with her inability to continue the hajj.
