Bridging Bioscience and Islam

Aasim I. Padela, MD, MSc, is a physician-scholar and internationally recognized thought and research leader at the intersection of Islam and biomedicine. A tenured Professor of Emergency Medicine, Bioethics, and the Medical Humanities at the Medical College of Wisconsin, he also founded the Initiative on Islam and Medicine, a leading nonprofit ‘think-and-do’ tank.

• Part I. Preliminaries on the Engagement of Islam and Bioscience.- 1. Introduction: Islam, Bioscience, and the Human Being.- 2. First Principles, Certainty, and Uncertainty: Unburdening Ourselves of the Science.- Part II. Core Chapters Bridging Islamic and Bioscientific Knowledge to Address “Big Questions” about the Human Being.- 3. Scientific Advances in Understanding Human Nature: An Islamic Occasionalist Perspective.- 4. Human Origins and Evolution in Light of Revealed Truths: Theological Anthropology, Scholarly Consensus, and Similarity.- 5. Are We Programmed or Do We Have Free Will? Discussions on Fate and Genetic Determinism in Islam and Bioscience.- 6. Assessing Evidence for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life and Implications for Human Uniqueness.- 7. Is Human Height Changing, and Should Medicine Intervene? Transhumanism, Biomedicine, and Islamic Bioethics.- 8. Radical Life Extension: Intersecting Bioscientific Possibilities and Islamic Sensibilities Raudah M. Yunus.- Part III. Practical Perspectives from the Field.- 9. The Importance of Teaching Muslim Students about Scientific and Religious Constructions of the Human Being.- 10. Addressing “Big Questions” about the Human Being through Bioscience and Islam: Findings from an Educational Intervention across Two Countries.