Abstract:
Muslim ethics is cautiously engaging developments in neuroscience. In
their encounters with developments in neuroscience such as brain death and functional
magnetic resonance imaging procedures, Muslim ethicists might be on the
cusp of spirited debates. Science and religion perform different kinds of work and
ought not to be conflated. Cultural translation is central to negotiating the complex
life worlds of religious communities, Muslims included. Cultural translation
involves lived encounters with modernity and its byproduct, modern science.
Serious ethical debate requires more than just a mere instrumental encounter with
science. A robust Muslim approach to neuroethics might require an emulsion of
religion and neuroscience, thought and body, and body and soul. Yet one must
anticipate that Muslim debates in neuroethics will be inflected with Muslim values,
symbols and the discrete faith perspectives of this tradition with meanings that are
specific to people who share this worldview and their concerns.
