In the first lecture of the Ali Vural Ak Center's Spring 2013 Lecture Series on Islamic Ethics, Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina, IIIT Chair in Islamic Studies at George Mason University, makes the case for an Islamic approach to biomedical ethics. Outlining the challenges and shortcomings of modern daily life, Sachedina describes how pain, suffering, and illness are experienced by all people regardless of their religious beliefs. He then presents a number of Islam's spiritual insights on these experiences and on physical health more generally. However, as the controversy surrounding biomedical ethics has essentially made the issue a near-taboo subject among Muslims, Sachedina explains, there is indeed a way to reconcile traditional thinking and the challenging decisions we face in modern life.
Sachedina, whose career spans over three decades of scholarly work, is a major figure in contemporary Islamic thought. His pioneering excavations of classical Islamic sources in relation to major contemporary themes such as democracy, human rights, and biomedical ethics have established him as a scholar of truly international standing.
He is the author of several books including "The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism", "Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights", and "Islamic Biomedical Ethics". He has also written numerous entries for the Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World and The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, and has published hundreds of articles, book chapters, and book reviews in several languages.
This event was organized by the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies on February 20, 2013.
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