ABSTRACT
This chapter invites us to compare Sunni Muslim and Catholic perspectives on bioethics. More specifically, the ethico-legal principle of maṣlaḥa (as developed in the work of the fourteenth-century Sunni Mālikī legal scholar Abū Ishāq Ibraḥīm al-Shāṭibī) closely parallels the notion of the common good in contemporary Catholic social thought, and both concepts call for attention to the bodily needs of the hungry, the thirsty, and the sick. At the same time, Carey grants that there may be certain differences in emphasis between Catholic and Muslim approaches; for instance, the Islamic concept of tawhīd highlights God’s omnipotence in curing disease (while not denying humans’ responsibility for their actions). He continues by examining Catholic and Muslim responses to HIV/AIDS in Kenya and points to collaborative efforts between leaders of both religions. The author concludes by highlighting the complementarity of universal principles and particular contexts and emphasizing that a theologically oriented bioethics can be an “avenue for interreligious dialogue and mutual self-discovery in the face of such a spiritually and physically debilitating disease.”
