Professor of Religious Studies of Virginia University in Tehran

Professor of Religious Studies of Virginia University in Tehran
Date: 7/2/2007

Tehran university of medical sciences/ Public relations news service: Professor Abdulaziz Sachedina was the principal lecturer of a seminar held last Saturday (29 th of June) in "Research center of Medical ethics and history of Medicine", Tehran university of Medical sciences.

Professor Abdulaziz Sachedina in this seminar explained Islamic approach in defining human dignity in biomedical ethics in comparison to secular views discussed in non-islamic countries. He stressed on the importance of relationship between human beings as the core principle of bioethics in his speech.

In the following of this seminar, he answered the participants questions about the topic.

Sachedina also stated, the lack of original Islamic resources for medical students has rushed the authors of educational books of medical ethics in these countries to follow the western principles that are based on secular ideology.

At the end of this session, professor Sachedina as a conclusion expressed hope that basic and fundamental principles of medical ethics in Islamic countries will be reconstructed according to new defining concepts originating from Islamic values and philosophy.

Professor Sachedina who is known as a Islamic bioethicist in university of Virginia has explained his viewpoint about the medical research somewhere this way:

"God's plan is to provide cure for any disease that God has created. And human beings have an obligation to discover all the possible ways of alleviating human suffering."

He is also author of the book; "Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism" which is well known worldwide.

"In this book, sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Abdulaziz Sachedina tackles the most significant issues facing Muslims today. As Islam and Muslims enter the twenty-first century, Sachedina argues, it is necessary to reopen the doors of religious interpretation—to reexamine and correct politically conditioned interpretations, replace outdated laws, and formulate new doctrines that respond to changing social contexts. Always using the Koran as his yardstick, Sachedina demonstrates how and why Islamic law came to reflect political and social influences, leading to regulations that violate the spirit and the letter of the Koran.

http://publicrelations.tums.ac.ir/english/news/detail.asp?newsID=4078