Medical Ethics in the Light of Maqāṣid Al-Sharīʿah: A Case Study of Medical Confidentiality
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31436/id.v26i1.1118Abstract
Abstract: The Islamic jurists utilized the discipline of maqāṣid al-sharīʿah,
in its capacity as the philosophy of Islamic law, in their legal and ethical
interpretations, with added interest in addressing the issues of modern times.
Aphoristically subsuming the major themes of the Sharīʿah, maqāṣid play a
pivotal role in the domain of decision-making and deduction of rulings on
unprecedented ethical discourses. Ethics represent the infrastructure of Islamic
law and the whole science of Islamic jurisprudence operates in the light
of maqāṣid to realize the ethics in people’s lives. Scrutinizing the key themes
of maqāṣid-based ijtihād and scope of ethics in maqāṣid, this article delves
into the discourse on the application of maqāṣid to medical ethics. As a case
study, this research analyses the extent of medical confidentiality in the light of
maqāṣid and arrives at the conclusion that limited confidentiality goes more in
line with the maxims of maqāṣid.