Mapping out the Trajectory of Islamic Perspectives on Neuroethics

Abstract

The advancements of medical technology incited multi-disciplinary discussions with regard to its ethical implications. Within the neuroscientific domain, the term ‘neuroethics’ has gained prominence over recent years. However, the contributions of religious perspectives in the nascent field of neuroethics are particularly few. The scarce literature on Islamic perspectives on neuroethics merely questioned its importance and introduced a sharia-based framework that can be implemented. Building upon this, the possible trajectories of Islamic perspectives on neuroethics can be mapped out by tapping into several issues within Islamic bioethics, such as cloning and genomics. Topics such as these are deliberated through the collective discussions by contemporary Muslim scholars and biomedical scientists, thus producing well-informed dialogues and decisions. Building upon these may assist in developing further the Islamic perspectives on issues within neuroethics. This lays the groundwork for all the stakeholders involved in advance, in order to predict and prevent potential harms and challenges.