Abstract
In Islam, debate and controversy on normativity started from the first centuries after the foundation of the religion by the Prophet Muhammad. One of the very first questions that occurred to the forefathers of Islamic Theology was on the theological bases of normativity. This debate divided Muslim theologians into two major branches: the Mu’tazilites, who believed that independent reason can be relied on as a source of normativity, and the Asha’rites, who believed that the only legitimate source for uncovering moral goodness or badness is the Holy Scripture. Shiite theology, after its initial development in the eighth and ninth centuries CE, was more inclined to the Mu’talizites’ because of the latter’s recognition of independent reason as a source of normativity.
Although Islamic theology (kalam) provides the theoretical backgrounds of moral thoughts, it is the Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh) that has always been in charge of producing normative guidance and instructions in Muslim communities. Likewise, bioethical issues have been subjected to Islamic Jurisprudence. Most Muslim families ask their bioethical questions to Islamic jurists (fuqaha). In addition, in many countries with Muslim majorities, the laws and regulations must be in accordance with fiqh. At the same time, the question of normativity has also been a source of controversy among authorities and scholars of fiqh. In the field of bioethics, debatable issues such as organ marketing, third-party assisted reproduction, and brain death have made jurists to reconsider their theories on normativity at some points. For example, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the efforts to make all the health-related regulations compatible with fiqh, have raised theoretical debates on the legitimate source of bioethical normativity in Islam and how to deal with the conflicts with the globally dominant Western bioethics and its normativity. Muslim scholars have adopted four main approaches in dealing with such conflicts: (1) The mainstream of scholars and jurists in the major Seminaries believe that fiqh is a comprehensive source of guidance that is able to answer all the normative questions based on its main traditional sources; (2) The theory of mantaghat-ul-faragh; (3) The principle-based approach; and (4) The theory of minimal approach to religion proposed by the leaders of Islamic Intellectual Movement, which has not gained popularity in the mainstream of scholars or believers.
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Notes
- 1.
The word ulama is the plural form of alim in Arabic. Alim means scholar. However, in its usual usage, it refers to a scholar who is an expert in Islamic jurisprudence. Fuqaha is the plural form of faqih, which means a scholar who is an expert in fiqh. The general meaning of fiqh is deep knowledge. However, this term is almost always being used as equal to Islamic jurisprudence.
- 2.
Different branches of Shi’a Islam vary in terms of the number of descendants they believe to be Holy Imams. The largest branch, which is dominant in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, believes in 12 Innocent Imams. Adherents of this branch believe that the last one of these Imams has disappeared and is still alive and will come back in the future to revitalize Islam in the world.
- 3.
These principles are called mustaqellat e aqliyyeh, which means “what reason can discover on its own.” There are just a few consensual principles of this kind such as “Justice is good.” In reality, these principles are too general to be useful in practical debates. For example, although justice is good, the mainstream of fuqaha believes that exact meaning of justice and its implications have to be determined in the light of the Holy Scripture.
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Acknowledgement
Part of this study has been done during my stay at the Brocher Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland in 2009. I would like to express my many thanks to the Brocher Foundation for providing me with an ideal and superb place for studying, thinking, and writing during my stay. In addition, I would like to thank my colleagues at the Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, especially Dr. Alireza Parsapour and Dr. Abdussalih Ja’fari Kermanshah for their great and helpful comments. In addition, I am so grateful to Dr. Joris Gielen, for inviting me to contribute in this volume and for his so helpful comments and suggestions on my manuscript.
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Among the following publications, the first one provides a more detailed picture on the way that normativity takes shape and becomes implemented in the laws and regulations in Iran. The second one provides a detailed picture of the content of Islamic biomedical ethics and is very helpful in understanding the principle-based approach. The third one also provides a very informative description of the challenges in front of Muslim jurists in the field of biomedical ethics and the ways they deal with these challenges.
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Aramesh, Kiarash. 2007. The Influences of Bioethics and Islamic Jurisprudence on Policy-Making in Iran. The American Journal of Bioethics 7 (10): 42–44.
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Atighetchi, Dariush. 2007. Islamic Bioethics: Problems and Perspectives. Dordrecht: Springer.
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Sachedina, Abdulaziuz. 2009a. Islamic Biomedical Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Aramesh, K. (2020). Normativity in Islamic Bioethics. In: Gielen, J. (eds) Dealing with Bioethical Issues in a Globalized World . Advancing Global Bioethics, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30432-4_3
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