Thus, to discover the basis of the Islamic bioethics we need...

Thus, to discover the basis of the Islamic bioethics we need to reflect on both rulings of the Islamic law and prescriptions of the Islamic ethics and find out the benefits they try to secure and the harms they try to prevent. Moral considerations must not be under shadowed by the sheer legal approach, just as legal requirements cannot be compromised. Sources of the Islamic bioethics Like any other enquiry about Islam, the Islamic bioethics is based on the Qur'an, the Sunnah and reason (Al-'Aql).

Instead of reason, Sunni Muslims may refer to things like Ijmaa' (consensus) and Qiyas (analogy). For the Shi‘a, Ijmaa' and Qiyas as such are not accepted, since by themselves, they cannot prove anything. Where does authority lie in the Islamic bioethics? In Shi‘a Islam, determination of valid religious practice is left to Grand Ayatollahs (Marji‘ of Taqlid) who are the most qualified jurisprudents of each generation.

They provide rulings on whether a given action is forbidden, discouraged, neutral, recommended or obligatory. It should be noted that every Ayatollah is required to refer directly to the main sources i.e. the Qur’an, the Sunnah and reason and discover the Islamic teachings in each case. Although he carefully and respectfully studies his predecessors’ works, an Ayatollah must develop his own original understanding and must not follow any other Ayatollah, however great the others might have been.

As said above, even consensus among people or scholars by itself is not a proof. This has given some kind of dynamism and vitality to Shi‘a thought (12). What is the basis of the Islamic bioethics? If secular western bioethics is mostly based on individual rights, what is the basis of the Islamic bioethics?

It has been suggested that “the Islamic bioethics is based on duties and obligations (e.g., to preserve life, to seek treatment), although rights (of God, the community and the individual) do feature in bioethics, as does a call to virtue (Ihsan)” (13). I think it is true that the Islamic bioethics is expressed primarily as duties and obligations.

However, it should be noted that in the Islamic bioethics we have to meet legal requirements and, therefore, we try to infer our duties and obligations from the original sources. In the other words, the emphasis is normally put on duties and obligations. However, there seems to be no doubt that the Islamic legislation is altogether to secure our interests. God, the Almighty, does not gain anything if we obey Him.