The English Translation of the Introduction and Conclusions of
‘The Impact of Medical Advancements on Religious Edicts and Judgeship.’
A dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at al-Jinan University by Dr. Hatem Al-Haj
The first section mentions some of the Fiqh-related issues whose edicts and
judgments have changed due to advancements in medicine specifically in the area of
worship.
1. Purification
a. Circumcision for both genders
b. Water heated by the sun
c. The menstrual period - its description, its shortest and longest limits, when it
starts and ends, the menstruation of the pregnant woman, and the least and highest
limits of the period of purity.
d. Postpartum period – its description, when it begins, the extent to which it can
last, when blood accompanying a miscarriage is considered part of a postpartum
period, and the situation of a woman who gives birth to twins with a long
intermission – is she considered in postpartum period after each individual birth?
2. Funerals
a. The signs of death; brain death
b. Preserving the honor of the dead and the effect of this on practices
sometimes carried out upon the Muslim when he dies, such as the mutilation or
cutting open of the stomach in the course of transporting of the corpse or in order to
know the cause of death, among other reasons
3. Fasting
a. Nullifiers of the fast
The second section contains some issues for which edicts have been
changed due to advancements in medicine specifically in the area of customs; and it is
divided into three parts:
1. Food and drink
a. The ruling on feeding dead meat and impure substances to animals
b. The ruling on smoking
2. Masturbation
3. Medical treatment
a. The ruling on medical treatment
b. The ruling on treating one who is in a continuous vegetative state
The third section contains some of the issues for which religious edicts have
changed due to advancement in medicine specifically in the area of transactions and
interaction.
1. Marriage and waiting periods, and under it are some issues relating to
pregnancy and waiting periods:
a. Shortest limit of pregnancy
b. Longest limit of pregnancy
c. Pregnancy from two different fluids (fathers)
d. The waiting period of she whose menstrual flow has ceased before the age
of barrenness, or had long lapses between her periods, and the waiting period of
the woman with prolonged bleeding.
2. Preventative factors and inheritance
a. Puberty and its signs
b. Hermaphrodites and their types
The fourth section presents the issue of judicial rulings and the Shar’i role of
medicine, and this is divided into two parts:
1. Judicial rulings - this part contains a discussion of the acceptable evidences in
establishing a plea in the Islamic judicial rulings and the role of forensic medicine in
indictment along with confession, testimony and oaths, and other independent and
supportive evidences. This includes a practical example of the significance of using
physical evidence as proof, and I chose as an example on this the issue of the
establishment of parenthood by way of DNA testing.
2. Injuries, retaliation, and prescribed punishments
a. Implementing retaliation by way of doctors and surgeons, and the effect this
has on exacting revenge
b. The effect of the advances in embryology on the differences between the
scholars of Fiqh in regards to when the soul is blown into the body, and the
subsequent applicable rulings of miscarriage and abortion
- Importance of Knowledge
- Compared to sciences of humanity
- Topical classification
- Disciplines
- Quran: Tafsir, Sciences of Quran
- Sunnah: Compilation, Explanation, Sciences of Hadith
- Aqeedah: Belief in the unseen (Allah, Heaven, Hell, Predestination, etc.)
- Actions: of body (Fiqh) and of heart (Tazkiyah)
- Supportive Sciences: Science of tools: Usool, Language
- History: Seerah, Biographies, Islamic History
