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Darurah (Necessity) and Its Application in Islamic Ethical Assessment of Medical Applications: A Review on Malaysian Fatwa

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Abstract

The discovery and invention of new medical applications may be considered blessings to humankind. However, some applications which might be the only remedy for certain diseases may contain ingredients or involve methods that are not in harmony with certain cultural and religious perspectives. These situations have raised important questions in medical ethics; are these applications completely prohibited according to these perspectives, and is there any room for mitigation? This paper explores the concept of darurah (necessity) and its deliberation in the formulation of fatwas on medicine issued by the National Fatwa Council of Malaysia. Darurah has explicitly been taken into consideration in the formulation of 14 out of 45 fatwas on medicine thus far, including one of the latest fatwas regarding uterine donation and transplantation. These fatwas are not only limited to the issues regarding the use of unlawful things as remedies. They include issues pertaining to organ transplantation, management of the corpse and treatment of brain dead patients. While deliberation of darurah in medicine may vary from issue to issue, darurah applies in a dire situation in which there are no lawful means to prevent harm that may be inflicted upon human life. Nevertheless, other aspects must also be taken into the deliberation. For example, consent must be obtained from the donor or his next of kin (after his death) to conduct a cadaveric organ transplantation.

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Notes

  1. Ijtihad may be defined as an intellectual effort conducted by a qualified Muslim scholar to the best of his ability in order to deduce the ruling that does not have direct argument in the main references of shariah (Kamali 1996). These two references remain the main sources for the scholar, and any ruling resulting from ijtihad will always be in harmony with shariah.

  2. Fatwa can be defined as an authoritative explanation of an Islamic perspective on certain issues given by a qualified Muslim scholar as a response to a question asked by an individual or a group of Muslims (al-Qaradawi 1988). Not all fatwas are made through ijtihad. Ijtihad would only be conducted to issue fatwas on certain issues such as permissibility of the new medical applications that do not have a clear argument in the main references of shariah (Dukhayyil 2007).

  3. It is recommended that the readers refer to the previous studies that have been done to explain the objectives of shariah [for example Saifuddeen et al. (2014)], the Islamic concept of maslahah (benefit) and mafsadah (harm), as well as the Islamic principles of priority [for example Isa and Man (2014)] that are important in the ethical assessment of new medical applications.

  4. The Conference of Rulers is made up of the nine Rulers and the four Governors of the States. According to the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, this conference has a number of critical roles, including matters related to Islam.

  5. The Menomune vaccine was declared permissible in February 2014 after the council reviewed its latest formulation and production process.

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  1. Department of Science and Technology Studies, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Noor Munirah Isa

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Isa, N.M. Darurah (Necessity) and Its Application in Islamic Ethical Assessment of Medical Applications: A Review on Malaysian Fatwa. Sci Eng Ethics 22, 1319–1332 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-015-9698-1

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