We at the Journal are honored and pleased for the opportunity to share this issue’s Special Section with our growing international readership. Its content is taken from a Fall 2015 conference The Role of Islamic Bioethics & Spirituality in Contemporary Medicine held at the University of Florida, Gainesville, under the auspices of its Center for Global Islamic Studies and sponsored by its College of Medicine and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The Editor for this Special Section, Dr. Mustafa Ahmed, was the driving force behind this venture. Credit is extended to him for a job well done at that time and now in the following pages. It required the energy, planning, and follow-up known to anyone who has been engaged in similar ventures. As both a participant at the Conference and a contributor to the Special Section, I can only express my thanks for the opportunity to be part of this program.

Dr. Ahmed will share in his introductory Editorial his ideas and perspective regarding the intent of this collection of articles and the dialog he hopes they stimulate going forward. I have only the following remarks. In a time when there is significant misunderstanding and even mindless vilification of Islam in some quarters, it is more important than ever for those of us in the academic and healing professions to demonstrate how dialog can take place in a manner that dignifies our callings and sets a standard for civility and mutual respect in the body politic. We are, after all, neighbors, colleagues, and citizens with a shared responsibility for the common good.

I conclude by noting my personal satisfaction that the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Medicine together sponsored this effort. Both science and medicine and the liberal arts have shown a common purpose and a similar investment in this program. We here at the Journal have viewed this relationship of creative interchange of the arts, notably spirituality and religious studies, and the sciences as central to our calling since our founding in 1961. In the pages that follow we see that commitment renewed and confirmed. We hope that all will appreciate the nature and content of this issue and its Special Section.