Genetics and Islam
ANOTHER session that was introduced for the first time at the summit was Genomics In The Gulf Region And Islamic Ethics.
“One of the key elements and characteristics of the genomics revolution is the explosion of knowledge,” said the forum’s chair Prof Dr Mohammed Ghaly.
The professor of Islam and Biomedical Ethics at Hamid Bin Khalifa University’s Research Centre of Islamic Legislation and Ethics (CILE) in Doha, added that this knowledge might not always be what the patient, researcher or doctor were looking for.
With this in mind, he and his team looked into the ethical management of incidental, or accidental, findings in genomics as related to Islam.
Prof Ghaly noted: “Islamic ethics is not something for aliens; it is not something for strange and weird people.
“We are humans who also use their ethical and intellectual reasoning. But we have a specific package of values that are rooted in the religion, which might make some conclusions different.”
He said that cultural practices that differ between Muslim communities and countries also need to be taken into account.
For example, ancestry is a very important issue in some Arab communities, affecting not only social standing and acceptance, but also legal rights and customary duties.
As such, Prof Ghaly and his team concluded that an incidental finding of someone not being the biological child of their supposed father is forbidden ( haram) to be disclosed to the affected person and their family, in accordance with the Shariah principle of protecting offspring.
He explained: “Paternity in the Islamic tradition is not exclusively biological.
“Paternity in the Islamic tradition has a social component, consisting of a valid marital contract between the two parents. It is not the role of the physician to get involved in this.”
Similarly, incidental findings that have no clinical relevance – sometimes because they cannot be treated – should not be disclosed to the patient as it would only cause them more anxiety.
Meanwhile, it is obligatory ( harus) to inform patients or participants in genetic research that incidental findings may arise in the course of their genetic analysis, i.e. obtaining informed consent.
Likewise, any incidental genetic information that can lead to lifesaving measures must also be disclosed to the patients or participants.
This, Prof Ghaly said, is in accordance with the Islamic values of honesty, transparency and saving lives.
“What’s important between obligatory actions and forbidden actions – that grey space which is in between – needs further discussion. There is no one-size-fits-all approach for incidental findings,” he said.
Relating to this, one of the forum’s panellists, CILE executive director and University of Oxford professor of Contemporary Islam Dr Tariq Ramadan said: “We need a transdis- ciplinary approach between the two knowledges, so to speak.
“No way can you deal with bioethics, no way can you deal with medical knowledge today, without people coming together.”
He stressed that neither Islamic scholars nor scientists, who might have economic forces behind them, alone should determine what Islamic bioethics in genomics should be.
“My feeling is that the very old traditional (Islamic) framework is not enough to come up with responses to these details,” he said.
Prof Ghaly said that he sees Islamic bioethical deliberations as part of the dialogue between scientists, Islamic scholars and ethicists worldwide, regardless of religion. “It is a matter of cross-fertilisation of ideas and thoughts.”
Concluding the forum, he said: “I think empowering the research participant, empowering the patient, and respecting their worldview – how they think about this life, why do they live this life – is very critical in developing any standards in the field of genomics and incidental findings in particular.”