End of Life Issues: An Islamic Perspective

Abstract

New medical technology has provided opportunities to save and prolong human lives as well as to relieve suffering. However, it has brought new ethical challenges, especially in end of life decision-making. Thus, whilst death and dying has been a private matter in the past, this is no longer only a private decision. As a result it is also a matter of public debate and policy. The issue of life and death is among the most sensitive and a profound legal subject in Islam and decisions taken around the end of life are amongst the most emotional and ethically charged issues in Islamic societies. A quarter of the world’s populations are Muslims. For many Muslims, whether they live in Muslim or non-Muslim countries, religious law is a major factor in healthcare decision-making, especially on decisions related to end of life. By elaborating the Quranic views on the creation of human life and death, the jurisprudential sources and methodology in Islamic bioethics will be discussed. This chapter presents an Islamic perspective on end of life issues, including: the definition of death; the right to die; medical futility; and euthanasia.