wma 7-2.indd - World Medical Association

Point of View
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Juan Mezzich,
WPA President 2005-2008.
Jon Snaedal,
WMA President 2007-2008.
Chris van Weel,
Wonca President 2007-2010.
Iona Heath,
Wonca Executive Committee.
Ethical , Moral, and Legal Responsibilities of
Physicians: an Islamic Perspective
Nariman Safarli
Azerbaijan as Muslim country. Azerbaijan,
an oil-rich republic of 8.1 million on
the shores of the Caspian Sea, has seen a
revival of Muslim faith since it became independent
with the collapse of the Soviet
Union in 1991. Approximately 93.4 to 96
percent of the population of Azerbaijan is
nominally Muslim. Azerbaijan at the same
time is a secular country, Article 48 of its
Constitution ensures the liberty of worship
to everyone. According to paragraphs 1-3
of Article 18 of the Constitution religion
acts separately from the government, each
religion is equal before the law and the propaganda
of religions, abating human personality
and contradicting the principles of
humanism is prohibited. At the same time
the state system of education is also secular.
The law of the Republic of Azerbaijan
(1992) "On freedom of faith" ensures the
right of any human being to determine and
express his or her view on religion and to
execute this right.
As a Muslim physician. In my paper I
add information about the responsibilities
and duties, basic norms and values, which a
Muslim doctor in particular and any doctor
in general must adhere to while delivering
his or her services in the society.
I know that the most important thing for
a Muslim doctor is to be interested in the
basic values and principles of Islam. This interest
will be in the foreground of his or her
duties and responsibilities which will bestow
loyalty and wisdom upon his or her profession,
as well as cast his or her perceptions
upon a strong foundation of our religion so
that he or she may perform his or her duties
as a real faithful believer.
Most of this information was extracted
from the Islamic Code of Medical Ethics
Kuwait Document published by the International
Organization of Islamic Medicine
in 1981 and from FIMA Year Books which
are published regularly by the Federation of
Islamic Medical Association. Some of these
recommendations were taken from the paper
– “The Medical Ethics - An Islamic
Perspective” written by Dr. Mohammad
Iqbal Khan and from the paper -“Medical
Ethics from Islamic Law” written by the
Prof. Omar Hassan Kasule, and some of
this information I collected during my participation
at various professional workshops
and seminars held in Malaysia, Jordan, and
the USA.
Ethics, morality and law are vitally important
in our world. Ethical, moral, and legal
responsibilities are at the heart of a physician’s
competent professional behaviour and
scientific undertakings.
Islamic and Secularized Ethics. The main
task of Islamic ethics is to understand and
expound the ethos of Islam as conceived in
the Qur’an and elaborated in the Sunnah of
the Prophet.
In Muslim countries, in any discussion of
ethics, there is a tendency to look towards
religion. Islam is believed to be able to fully
restore the harmony between religion and
science. Ethics in Muslim countries is inseparable
from religious jurisprudence. New
regulations and guidelines on ethics were
compiled and put into practice using the
Islamic point of view as the basis.
Islamic bioethics is intimately linked to
the broad ethical teachings of the Qur'an
and the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad
(s.a.w.), and thus to the interpretation
of Islamic law. Bioethical deliberation is
inseparable from the religion itself, which
emphasizes continuities between body and
mind, the material and spiritual realms
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