ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between bioethics and the broader conceptualization of Islamic law under its Arabic counterpart and historically loaded term of Shariʿah. It explores some illustrative examples of premodern juristic discussions concerning medical questions and also examines modern juristic deliberations on bioethical dilemmas. The chapter discusses a sample of biomedical issues that shows the role of Islamic law in the formulation of Islamic normative rulings on some important bioethical issues. Considering the classical role of Islamic law in the definition of Islamic ethics, if not Islam itself, as well as the comprehensive scope of Islamic legal rules, bioethics in the Muslim context has largely consisted in ethical-legal assessment. The impact of modern medical technology on the classical corpus of Islamic law has not been limited to particular substantive issues but it has also included its procedural dimensions as well.
