Is organ donation permissible? What is the legal ruling on surrogate motherhood? What are the sources of healing from an Islamic ontological perspective? How does authority play a role in bioethics? Answers to these questions and more will be provided through didactic lectures and discussions with healthcare professionals. The goal of the course is to furnish students with an Islamic framework to approach issues of bioethics and have the tools to think Islamically within their profession. Students and professionals in fields related to healthcare—including medicine, dentistry, public health, health policy, naturopathy, health administration, clinical psychology, pharmacy, and biology—may find the most benefit from this course.

The course (IBE101) begins with a unit on the epistemological and creedal (ʿaqīdah) foundations necessary to understand Islamic Bioethics. Sessions will then cover the organization and sources of Islamic law (fiqh) along with a survey of the principles-based (uṣūlī) and objectives-based (maqāsidī) approaches to Islamic bioethics. The course continues with lectures on the concept of healing in the Islamic tradition based on verses of the Qurʾān and ḥadīths from the Book of Medicine (Kitāb al-Ṭibb) of Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ (a ḥadīth compilation by Imām Khaṭīb al–Tabrīzī from the Six Books, Musnad Aḥmad, and various others). Relevant case studies, peer-reviewed publications, and legal opinions (fatāwā) will be discussed in specified sessions.