Islamic teachings of bioethics in relation to the practice of medical genetics.

I has approximately 1.5 billion followers worldwide, the majority of which live in the Islamic states, and an appreciable number live in non-Islamic states.1,2 In both environments, the Muslims maintain a “Code of Life”, in which they adhere to the instructions of Islam and respect it’s guidance in their daily living. Islam provides a “Code of Conduct” drawn from Al-Sharea’h, also known as the Islamic law.3-8 Within this framework, Islamic law covers both medicine and medical practices. These include all the aspects of professionalism required to appropriately serve the individual, the family, and the community.3 To respond to various implications from the information learned from the human genome and associated studies, a number of conferences, symposia, and workshops were held during the last 15 years in a number of Islamic countries, to discuss the new issues arising from the recent scientific developments and its applications in genetics. Among these, an international conference on Islamic medicine was held to discuss ethics of medicine in light of Islamic views, and a seminar on Genetics, Genetic Engineering, the Human Genes, and Genetic Treatment An Islamic Perspective.9 The World Health Organization (WHO) organized 2 relevant meetings. The first one was to discuss the “Ethical aspects of scientific application in Genetics”,10 followed by another meeting to discuss the “Ethical issues in application to genetics in developing countries”,11 which included a large number of Islamic countries. A complimentary workshop, “The 1st Regional Workshop on Ethical Issues in Genetic Counseling” was held, thereafter.12 The last 3 events benefited from the previously held conferences, and from the “Fiqh” Council Fatwas of Relevance. Also of relevances was the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) general guidelines on bioethics and human rights.13 This paper presents and discusses the salient points of Editorial