BIOMEDICAL ETHICS: MUSLIM PERSPECTIVES ON GENETIC MODIFICATION

Author: Al-Hayani, Fatima Agha

Source: Zygon, Volume 42, Number 1, March 2007 , pp. 153-162(10)

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Abstract:

Technology pertaining to genetically modified foods has created an abundance of food and various methods to protect new products and enhance productivity. However, many scientists, economists, and humanitarians have been critical of the application of these discoveries. They are apprehensive about a profit-driven mentality that, to them, seems to propel the innovators rather than a poverty-elimination mentality that should be behind such innovations. The objectives should be to afford the most benefit to those in need and to prevent hunger around the world. Another major concern is the safety of genetically modified food. Muslims, as well as those in other religious communities, have been reactive rather than proactive. Muslims must connect scientific knowledge and ethical behavior based on faith. In Islam, there is no divide between the two. God has commanded us to seek knowledge and make discoveries to better our lives and our environment. We are trustees of this world and everything in it. The poor, the sick, and the wayfarers have a right to be fed and cared for. God reminds Muslims continuously that the earth and all the heavens belong to God; therefore, no one should feel hunger, no one should suffer or be prevented from sharing this bounty.

Keywords: insan (person human); insaniyyah (humanism, humanity humaneness); genetic modification (GM); genetically modified foods (GMF); genetically modified organisms (GMO)

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2006.00812.x

Affiliations: 1: Lecturer and court expert on Islamic Jurisprudence, particularly Islamic Family Law, and a presenter of workshops on Islam, Islamic Law, Women in Islam and in the Arab World, the Middle Eastern History, Society, and Culture. Her mailing address i

Publication date: 2007-03-01