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Past EMBL Forum Lectures |
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2003 |
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| 11 December
2003 |
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| Islamic
perspectives on cancer genetics and gene therapy |  |
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Professor Abdulaziz Sachedina, Department
of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, USA
Islamic ethical decisions allowing procedures or actions in
the field of genetics vary according to the purpose they aim to
serve. The guiding principle in the sacred law is that there is
seldom a thing of benefit without some inherent disadvantage
affecting one's religion, body or property. Islam's concern to
combine noble ends with noble means rules out the idea of good end
justifying a corrupt means. Taking the specific case of genetic
engineering, the most important rule is avoidance of anything that
might affect human nature and human relationships. Islam forbids
any tampering with human nature in any way other than legitimate
methods of correction. Anything that is done for prevention or as
treatment is legitimate. Ethical judgment on any medical procedure
is made on the basis of predominance of benefit.
Profile Born
in Tanzania, Abdulaziz Sachedina is Professor of Religious
Studies at the University of Virginia. His MA/PhD is from
the University of Toronto, and has BA degrees from Aligarh
Muslim University in India and Ferdowsi University in Iran.
He has been visiting professor at Wilfrid Laurier, Waterloo
and McGill Universities in Canada, Haverford College and the
University of Jordan, Amman. He has lectured widely in East
Africa, India, Pakistan, Europe, and the Middle East. Professor
Sachedina is a core member of the 'Islamic Roots of Democratic
Pluralism,' Project in the CSIS Preventive Diplomacy program
and a key contributor to the program's efforts to link religion
to universal human needs and values in the service of peace-building.
He contributed to Human Rights and the Conflict of Cultures:
Western and Islamic Perspectives on Religious Liberty [University
of South Carolina Press, 1988] and has authored Islamic Roots
of Democratic Pluralism [New York: Oxford University Press,
2001]. He is presently working on a major study on: Islamic
Law for Muslim Physicians: The Spiritual Foundations of Biomedical
Ethics in Islam. |
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