Culturally disruptive implications of medical technology on religious conception of death: a critical analysis of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence

Unprecedented advancement in the field of medical technology on its positive side definitely contributes to saving life and providing cure for numerous debilitating diseases and infirmities which were responsible for the demise of our forefathers during pre-technological eras. Lifeless bodies which...

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Main Authors: Haneef, Sayed Sikandar Shah, Abdul Razak, Mohd Abbas
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
English
English
English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/2/schedule.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/17/68853_Culturally%20Disruptive%20Implications%20-%20slide.pdf
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spelling iium-688532019-01-08T02:54:19Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/ Culturally disruptive implications of medical technology on religious conception of death: a critical analysis of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence Haneef, Sayed Sikandar Shah Abdul Razak, Mohd Abbas KBP173.25 Islamic law and other disciplines or subjects KBP470 Law reform. Criticism. Tanzim Unprecedented advancement in the field of medical technology on its positive side definitely contributes to saving life and providing cure for numerous debilitating diseases and infirmities which were responsible for the demise of our forefathers during pre-technological eras. Lifeless bodies which were buried in the old times, now can be held in suspension in the ICU section of the hospitals for years, and technically considered as alive if we go by traditions criterion of death, namely stoppage of heart beat and respiratory function. On the negative side, however, it, among others, created logistic problems in terms of sustaining such patients in vegetative states through life support for the health care providers and other stakeholders. To overcome this predicament, medical technology being an evolutionary field of innovation, managed to deconstruct the traditional notion of death by replacing it with the notion of medical death, called brain death. This was inaugurated by Ad hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School in August 1968. Nevertheless, this kind of disruption on conventional conception of death not only has enkindled ethical debate among scientific community but has challenged metaphysical view of death as upheld by major religions of world including Islam. As to how Sunni Muslim legal scholars have responded to this, is the purposes of this paper. Using textual analysis method, the paper finds that the thrust of juristic debate in the Sunni Fiqh has been as to whether brain death is a definitive indicator that the soul has left the body (metaphysical concept). The answer has been divergent but with minimum discourse on both theological and scientific dimensions of the issue. Accordingly, this paper argues that interrogating the issue from scientific dimension would have resulted in a more informed verdict on the issue. 2018-12-22 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/2/schedule.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/17/68853_Culturally%20Disruptive%20Implications%20-%20slide.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/18/68853_Culturally%20Disruptive%20Implications%20-%20best%20paper.jpg application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/28/68853_Culturally%20Disruptive%20Implications%20-%20paper.pdf Haneef, Sayed Sikandar Shah and Abdul Razak, Mohd Abbas (2018) Culturally disruptive implications of medical technology on religious conception of death: a critical analysis of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence. In: 17th Kuala Lumpur International Business, Economics and Law Conference 2018 (KLibel), 22nd-23rd December 2018, Putrajaya. (Unpublished) http://klibel.com/
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
language English
English
English
English
topic KBP173.25 Islamic law and other disciplines or subjects
KBP470 Law reform. Criticism. Tanzim
spellingShingle KBP173.25 Islamic law and other disciplines or subjects
KBP470 Law reform. Criticism. Tanzim
Haneef, Sayed Sikandar Shah
Abdul Razak, Mohd Abbas
Culturally disruptive implications of medical technology on religious conception of death: a critical analysis of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence
description Unprecedented advancement in the field of medical technology on its positive side definitely contributes to saving life and providing cure for numerous debilitating diseases and infirmities which were responsible for the demise of our forefathers during pre-technological eras. Lifeless bodies which were buried in the old times, now can be held in suspension in the ICU section of the hospitals for years, and technically considered as alive if we go by traditions criterion of death, namely stoppage of heart beat and respiratory function. On the negative side, however, it, among others, created logistic problems in terms of sustaining such patients in vegetative states through life support for the health care providers and other stakeholders. To overcome this predicament, medical technology being an evolutionary field of innovation, managed to deconstruct the traditional notion of death by replacing it with the notion of medical death, called brain death. This was inaugurated by Ad hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School in August 1968. Nevertheless, this kind of disruption on conventional conception of death not only has enkindled ethical debate among scientific community but has challenged metaphysical view of death as upheld by major religions of world including Islam. As to how Sunni Muslim legal scholars have responded to this, is the purposes of this paper. Using textual analysis method, the paper finds that the thrust of juristic debate in the Sunni Fiqh has been as to whether brain death is a definitive indicator that the soul has left the body (metaphysical concept). The answer has been divergent but with minimum discourse on both theological and scientific dimensions of the issue. Accordingly, this paper argues that interrogating the issue from scientific dimension would have resulted in a more informed verdict on the issue.
format Conference or Workshop Item
author Haneef, Sayed Sikandar Shah
Abdul Razak, Mohd Abbas
author_facet Haneef, Sayed Sikandar Shah
Abdul Razak, Mohd Abbas
author_sort Haneef, Sayed Sikandar Shah
title Culturally disruptive implications of medical technology on religious conception of death: a critical analysis of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence
title_short Culturally disruptive implications of medical technology on religious conception of death: a critical analysis of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence
title_full Culturally disruptive implications of medical technology on religious conception of death: a critical analysis of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence
title_fullStr Culturally disruptive implications of medical technology on religious conception of death: a critical analysis of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence
title_full_unstemmed Culturally disruptive implications of medical technology on religious conception of death: a critical analysis of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence
title_sort culturally disruptive implications of medical technology on religious conception of death: a critical analysis of sunni muslim jurisprudence
publishDate 2018
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/2/schedule.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/17/68853_Culturally%20Disruptive%20Implications%20-%20slide.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/18/68853_Culturally%20Disruptive%20Implications%20-%20best%20paper.jpg
http://irep.iium.edu.my/68853/28/68853_Culturally%20Disruptive%20Implications%20-%20paper.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T21:37:42Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T21:37:42Z
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