Islam is a
monotheistic religion rooted in the Abrahamic tradition and follows the
teachings of Allah as revealed through the Prophet Muhammad. As Muslims believe
it, the Qur'an is the direct word of Allah and prescribes many of the daily
rituals, principles, and practices that guide Muslims on the Straight Path, or sirat-ul-mustaqeem. Within this faith
tradition, there is a prominent divide with respect to succession of authority
after the Prophet’s death in the eighth century, with Shi'a Islam
adopting the belief and practice of imams as spiritual leaders with divine
authority and leadership within the Muslim community (Jamali). Specifically,
Ismailism is the second largest sub sect in Shi'a Islam that follows the line of
Imamat through forty-nine hereditary spiritual leaders and currently follows
the guidance of the present-living Imam Shah Karim al-Husseini, given the title
of Aga Khan IV. Today, there are over 15 million Ismailis residing in nearly 25
nations across the world.
The work of the
Aga Khan in developing communities around the world led to the creation of the
Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a development organization that follows in
line with “Islam’s ethical tradition, [where] religious
leaders not only interpret the faith but also have a responsibility to help
improve the quality of life in their community and in the societies amongst
which they live” (The Aga Khan Development Network). The AKDN achieves this
initiative through goals such as alleviating poverty and promoting social and
economic equality within the areas it serves. This ideology also
promotes an ethical framework crafted and released by the AKDN, which outlines
nine ethical principles to help guide and discern decision-making processes in
theological as well as professional career discourse (The Institute of Ismaili
Studies, 2). Through an in-depth assessment of these ethical values alongside
the delivery of medical services, several tools can be utilized to both seek
out as well as address the role of medical ethics in our society to promote
justice. Specifically in the case of Shi'a Ismailis, a call to engage in
dialogue with the Ismaili Muslim community as part of a global society not only
enhances our understanding of various faith traditions but also encourages
communities like Georgetown to play an active role in seeking out minority
groups to discuss shared traditions and values.
Alongside the various ethical principles mentioned in the AKDN ethical
framework, three specific values succinctly highlight the ways in which our
community can work to overcome the challenges facing Ismaili medical ethics
concerns today. These include the ethic of inclusiveness, the ethic of
education and research, and the ethic of respect for life and health care (The
Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2-4). In the ethic of inclusiveness, an emphasis
on every individual patient as a human being brings a sense of commonality
among all people, promoting a culture of respect for everyone in all parts of
the world. The Qur'an affirms this notion when it states, “Humankind has been
created from a single soul, as male and female, as communities and nations, so
that people may know one another” (qtd. in The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2).
This ethic reveals a notion of universality among all people, directing the
conversation to acknowledge a common thread that binds us all together,
interpreted as the soul, in the Islamic tradition. As it states, understanding
the limitation of mankind promotes the value of other ethics, such as the ethic
of compassion and sharing, wherein individuals can empathize with others based
on the shared struggle for transcendence. The framework outlines, “The pious
are the socially conscious who recognize in their wealth a right for the
indigent and the deprived for whom they help for the sake of God alone” (The Institute
of Ismaili Studies, 4). In this way, relating to one’s religious and ethical
priorities in delivery of care can be useful for determining the impact
Georgetown can have in shaping and sharing underlying ethical values amongst
students seeking to be involved in such professions.
Another ethical principle that shapes the way in which we engage in
difference to promote equality and social justice involves the ethic of
education and research. Within the field of health care, this ethic plays a
critical role in managing new forms of information, technology, and medical
advances to promote health and well-being while also recognizing human limitations
to prolong life, as expressed earlier. It is additionally expressed in the
ethic of education and research that learning and seeking to gain knowledge is
obligatory to learning more about Allah’s creation (The Institute of Ismaili
Studies, 3) as well as utilize the intellect, or akal, to reason, a key characteristic that distinguishes mankind
from all other creations (“Introduction”). This is particularly important when
applying ethics in the medical world, as proper reasoning and rationalization
of every decision must be conducted to adequately treat a human being with the
same level of respect and care as other human beings. In application, the ethic
of education and research promotes careful consideration and fairness in
delivery of medical services, enabling health care professionals to seek a
degree of justice for their patients in such circumstances.
An example can be seen when weighing the pros and cons of using a pig’s
organs, an animal that is considered haram
or forbidden in Islam, to conduct a life-saving surgery for the patient. In
such an example case study, Muslim scholars note, “Organ/tissues transplantation is considered a medical intervention
that touches on the fundamental rights of the donor or the recipient” (Bakari
et al. 57). To fully promote a just and ethically sound
environment, these considerations should be taken into account alongside
guidance of a religious figure, body, or institution that can help families
make decisions based on both medically proven evidence, via the ethic of
education and research, as well as precedent of adherence to common religious
practices in the tradition. Within the Georgetown community, these stakeholders
are present on our campus and readily available to all students, through the
form of spiritual directors, chaplains, and other staff that work to engage
students of different faiths in discussions surrounding ethical dilemmas. As
such, it is critical to inform and engage all participants of the driving
forces that influence how our community represents and encourages justice
within ethical decision making, whether it pertain to the medical field or
otherwise.
Finally, the ethic of respect for life and health care integrates the
previous two ethics to create a call to action between Ismaili ethics and
delivery of healthcare services. This intersectionality is important because
each life must be treated fairly and with dignity, particularly in an
individual’s most vulnerable state of poor health, when medical illness
prohibits one from carrying out activities to his fullest potential. The ethic
of respect for life implies that a minority community should not have its
religious rights be taken away from them due to a lack of knowledge or
understanding about the faith tradition’s practices. With respect to those
wishing to become health care professionals, an added ethical duty to serve the
needs of the population at hand continues to preside and dictate why Ismaili
ethics should be considered. For example, the AKDN ethical framework outlines,
“Learning medicine…is a ‘duty of sufficiency’, which is incumbent upon, not
every individual, but a sufficient number of people to serve the health needs
of a community” (The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 4). In this, it is important
to note that this ethic does not advocate for Ismaili Muslims to exclusively
learn medicine and serve those in their community, but rather it acknowledges
that all people who distinguish themselves to learning about medicine and
engaging in the health care system immediately commit to serving the health
care needs of the community in which they belong.
