This book advances scholarly discourse at the interface of Islam, biomedicine, and the human being. Most commonly, discourses between science and religion center on conflict and commensurability. As the truth claims of one domain of knowledge are measured against the claims from the other, scholars, students, and members of the interested public seek to identify areas of contention, zones of overlap, and spaces for alignment. Recent advancements in neuroscience, genetics, and exobiology have yielded new data about the human being, thus providing avenues for renewed dialogue between science and religion. This volume seizes this opportunity to address fundamental questions about the human being by bridging bioscientific and Islamic understandings. Specifically, the volume brings together scientists, theologians, and educators to tackle questions of human origin, nature/essence, capacities, fatedness, future, and uniqueness, and to reflect upon teaching at the Islam and science interface. In doing so, it offers fresh multidisciplinary discussions on epistemology, theological anthropology, moral theology, ontology, and bioethics while centering discussions on the human being.
Part I. Preliminaries on the Engagement of Islam and Bioscience.-
1.
Introduction: Islam, Bioscience, and the Human Being.-
2. First Principles,
Certainty, and Uncertainty: Unburdening Ourselves of the Science.- Part II.
Core
Chapters Bridging Islamic and Bioscientific Knowledge to Address Big
Questions about the Human Being.-
3. Scientific Advances in Understanding
Human Nature: An Islamic Occasionalist Perspective.-
4. Human Origins and
Evolution in Light of Revealed Truths: Theological Anthropology, Scholarly
Consensus, and Similarity.-
5. Are We Programmed or Do We Have Free Will?
Discussions on Fate and Genetic Determinism in Islam and Bioscience.-
6.
Assessing Evidence for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life and Implications for
Human Uniqueness.-
7. Is Human Height Changing, and Should Medicine
Intervene? Transhumanism, Biomedicine, and Islamic Bioethics.-
8. Radical
Life Extension: Intersecting Bioscientific Possibilities and Islamic
Sensibilities Raudah M. Yunus.- Part III. Practical Perspectives from the
Field.-
9. The Importance of Teaching Muslim Students about Scientific and
Religious Constructions of the Human Being.-
10. Addressing Big Questions
about the Human Being through Bioscience and Islam: Findings from an
Educational Intervention across Two Countries.
Aasim I. Padela, MD, MSc, is a physician-scholar and internationally recognized thought and research leader at the intersection of Islam and biomedicine. A tenured Professor of Emergency Medicine, Bioethics, and the Medical Humanities at the Medical College of Wisconsin, he also founded the Initiative on Islam and Medicine, a leading nonprofit think-and-do tank.
