Symposium on medical fatwas to be held in Istanbul

A symposium about the methodology of giving fatwas on medical issues and its challenges will be held in Istanbul over the weekend. The symposium will delve into topics like bio-medicine, genetic engineering and bioethics.

Duvar English

The methodology and challenges of Islamic fatwas on medical issues is to be discussed at a symposium held by the Istanbul Research and Education Foundation's (ISAR) Medicine and Ethics Work Group.

The symposium, which will take place on Saturday and Sunday at the Islam Research Center, will hold sessions entitled "Bio-Islamic law methodology: The matrix of evidence-based medicine and Islamic law," "Can bio-Islamic law substitute for bioethics?"and "Questioning Genetic Engineering and Technology."

The symposium was organized because a conference held in 2010 entitled "Islamic Scholars' Information Gathering on Methodologies for Medical Fatwas" was insufficient in "giving Islamic answers to medical questions," according to ISAR.

In Islam, a fatwa is a ruling on a given issue of Islamic law that is provided by a recognized religious authority.