Bioethics in Islamic Thought.

This article gives an overview of Islamic ethical thought and its relationship to bioethical issues. It argues that Islamic bioethics can be viewed both as a cumulative tradition building on the Islamic ethical resources and as an ongoing discourse that captures the effort to understand and implement Islamic moral precepts pertaining to a wide range of issues including the beginning and end of human life, treatment of the human body, and proper attitudes towards the environment. After a brief introduction on the term 'bioethics' and its history, the article is divided into three main sections exploring the foundations of Islamic (bio)ethics, the evolution and development of medical ethics in the Islamic tradition, and the main challenges confronting contemporary Islamic bioethical discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]