CIR Conference 2012 at Yale

The Critical Islamic Reflections (CIR) Committee at Yale invites scholars and professionals from all fields to attend our 11th annual conference, "Islamic Bioethics and Law: The Role of Traditional Scholarship in Modern Times." This interdisciplinary forum will explore the role of the Islamic tradition in the resolution of modern day bioethical dilemmas while also investigating the methodologies used by ethicists, healthcare practitioners, policy makers, and religious scholars to address ethical dilemmas pertaining to public health, biomedicine, and healthcare in general.

Description and Aim of the Conference:

      Muslim health care consumers and providers, both those in Muslim majority countries as well as Muslim minority communities, are not immune to the global forces that continuously reshape modern bioethical dilemmas. While many Muslims seek to live according to standards set by the Qur’an and Prophetic Sunnah, medically related advise and rulings provided by Islamic scholars, jurists, health care providers, policy makers, and ethicists can at times be overwhelming and even contradictory.

     The purpose of this conference is to explore the underlying principles that guide bioethical decision-making within the context of greater Islamic ethical thought and jurisprudence. Presentations will critically examine the respective roles of secular/biomedical specialists and traditional Islamic scholars in the resolution of bioethical issues, models of approaching Islamic bioethics, and recent Islamic legal rulings (fatawa) with respect to biomedicine.