Islamic Conceptions of Human Dignity and Their Relevance for Bioethics of End-of-Life Healthcare

This paper addresses bioethical considerations in end-of-life healthcare. It explores Islamic bioethical concepts of karāma and ḥurma, framing them as homeomorphic equivalents to categories of human dignity in Western bioethics. Karāma refers to the inherent honour bestowed by God upon every human being, as distinct from honour as a component that can be accrued; ḥurma signifies the inviolability and sanctity of the human body. The two concepts are related and when combined can be mapped onto Sulmasy's categorizations of intrinsic and attributed dignity. The third category proposed by Sulmasy, inflorescent dignity-human grace and virtue expressed in observable behaviour-is demonstrated through the historical narrations of how Prophet Muhammad faced his last days. The paper notes how these Islamically-grounded notions of dignity are reflected in empirical studies of Muslim populations and uses a case scenario to demonstrate how they can manifest in end-of-life care decisions for Muslim populations.