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“First Things First”: Application of Islamic Principles of Priority in the Ethical Assessment of Genetically Modified Foods

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Abstract

Advancement of modern agricultural biotechnology has brought various potential benefits to humankind, but at the same time ethical concerns regarding some applications such as genetically modified foods (GMF) have been raised among the public. Several questions are being posed; should they utilize such applications to improve quality of their life, or should they refrain in order to save themselves from any associated risk? What are the ethical principles that can be applied to assess these applications? By using GMF as a case study, this paper discusses possible answers to these questions from Islamic perspective. Such answers are based on the understanding of the Islamic concept of maslahah (benefit) and mafsadah (harm) as well as the Islamic principles of priority. There is no specific GMF that has been declared as unlawful by Muslim scholars thus far. Nevertheless, they generally state that any GMF that contains unlawful substance is prohibited in Islam. Such statement can be understood since Islam puts highest priority to preserve shari’ah (Islamic law) which prescribes the lawful and unlawful things in human life. Priorities have also been given to preserve human health and environment therefore any GMF that may inflict harm on both entities is also considered as unlawful.

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Notes

  1. In the following guidelines, the authors use the term darar instead of mafsadah to retain the original term used in the reference.

  2. See the Qur’an Chapter al-Tin verse 4.

  3. Fatwa can be defined as an authoritative answer to the question on any issues from Islamic perspective.

  4. These organizations are selected based on the online accessibility of the declared fatawa.

  5. There is ongoing discussion among the Muslim scholars on the relevancy of the concept of istihalah (transformation of substance) as justification to declare GMF that contains unlawful substance as lawful. The NFC however has decided that this concept is not applicable in this case. The authors do not intend to discuss further on this matter because it is beyond the scope of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Science and Technology Studies, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Noor Munirah Isa

  2. Department of Fiqh and Usul, Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Saadan Man

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  1. Noor Munirah Isa
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  2. Saadan Man
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Correspondence to Noor Munirah Isa.

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Isa, N.M., Man, S. “First Things First”: Application of Islamic Principles of Priority in the Ethical Assessment of Genetically Modified Foods. J Agric Environ Ethics 27, 857–870 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-014-9504-0

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