Exploring Bioscience and Islam: A Curriculum on Fundamental Questions about the Human Being

The Exploring Bioscience and Islam curriculum is designed for healthcare students and professionals to gain an understanding of how scholars of religion and science approach fundamental questions about the human being. This curriculum addresses five fundamental questions about humankind:

1. What is the origin of humankind?

2. What is the human’s essential nature?

3. What is the human’s future?

4. Are human actions predetermined?

5. Are humans unique in the universe?

Today many might assume such questions are in the realm of theologians and philosophers only, incorrectly downplaying modern medicine’s role in addressing these topics. This course was built to highlight the role of physicians in answering these questions as well as to provide students the historical, Islamic, and scientific context within which these questions are considered. This course was built with contributions from physicians, Islamic scholars, philosophers, and professional ethicists in an attempt to equip students with the vocabulary, context, and epistemological framework needed to approach the complex questions that lie at the intersection of modern medicine and Islam.

The curriculum is designed to first establish an understanding of epistemology in Unit 1 after which students are equipped to explore any of the remaining units without being restricted to a sequential order of completion as described by the image below.