The Principle of Autonomy as Related to End of life Decision From Islamic Perspective

Because of religious, moral, political, social, economic and legal valuesattributed to death, the issues related to end of life should be discussed with aninterdisciplinary and international perspective. Considering that legislativeregulations pertaining to these issues will affect, and in turn be affected by,the society, rather than individuals, it seems necessary to study these issueswithin the ontological, epistemological and theological frameworks. Recentrapid advances in the medical world have led to prolongation of the dyingprocess and brought the issues of euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide orassisted dying and autonomy to the attention of world and thereby Muslimcountries. Since death is one of the leading phenomena which provide apowerful religious cognition, it is not surprising that Islam and Muslims havea meticulous approach to issues related to death. Starting from this point ofview, the main topic of this paper is to investigate Islam s response to issuesrelated to any interference with the end of life by a special focus on the case ofeuthanasia

Keywords:

Death , principle of autonomy , euthanasia , legislative regulations