Not In Your Prerogative To Take Life!
Ishtiaq Ahmed
Bradford: The introduction of the Assisted Dying Adults Private Members Bill in the UK has reignited a passionate debate over whether terminally ill adults should have the right to end their lives with medical assistance.
Advocates for the bill, led by MP Kim Leadbeater, argue that it could alleviate the suffering of those facing unbearable pain from incurable illnesses. Supporters believe it would offer terminally ill patients an important choice, supported by strict safeguards.
Public support is strong, with a 2023 poll indicating that two-thirds of Britons are in Favour, including public figures like Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Opposition to the bill has come from politicians and significantly from faith communities and also from the sections of the medical professionals who view life as sacred and inviolable.
Critics warn that legalising assisted dying could create subtle or overt pressure on vulnerable people to choose death, particularly those who feel like a burden on their families or society.
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Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, is quoted in The Times stating , death is “not a service that the state should be offering. As As a Muslim, I have an unshakeable belief in the sanctity and the value of human life,”
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has expressed concerns that assisted dying laws could disproportionately affect society’s most vulnerable, potentially leading them to feel compelled to choose death rather than life.
Rashad Bokhari, the Chief Executive of influential Council for Mosques Bradford & District speaking to The Guardian said, “The general perspective from an Islamic point of view, is very much … life is a gift from God. So God gives you life. God takes the life.”
As well as being an issue of conscience for the city’s Muslims, the bill also comes against a backdrop in which faith and trust in the medical professional was eroded during the Covid pandemic, and where inequalities already exist in end-of-life care that some say are at risk of being deepened.
The Muslim Council of Britain’s statement in 2014 when this issue was first debated in the House of Lords in 2014 stated “along with other faiths held that suicide must not be made legal in Britain.
To legalise assisted dying fundamentally shift the emphasis away from the preservation of life, which should be cherished and protected, to viewing life as a commodity, to be dispensed with when deemed of little value.”
The British Islamic Medical Association which represents Muslim medical professionals across the UK, surveyed 88 healthcare workers between July and August in response to a Scottish government consultation on assisted dying for terminally ill adults.
Of those surveyed, 88% of healthcare workers disagreed that it should be legal for doctors to prescribe life-ending medication. Around 6% of respondents said doctors should be allowed to prescribe the medication, while another 6% were unsure.
On whether doctors should have the legal right to administer life-ending medication, 90% disagreed. Around 6% agreed, while the rest were unsure.
Nadia Khan of British Islamic Medical Association, a palliative medicine consultant from the West Midlands and the end of life group lead at Bima, speaking to The Guardian explained, “The key concerns we have centre around safety.
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There’s a risk of assisted dying being misused, where people from ethnic minority groups may not be able to access information. Vulnerable groups may end up either being coerced into taking up assisted dying, or feeling like they have no other choice because of the gaps around good end of life care and social support.
At the moment, we haven’t got equitable end of life healthcare for everyone. That needs to be resolved. Assisted dying is the wrong answer to the right question, which is how do we make people more comfortable at the end of life?”
The life is a gift from Allah SWT. It should not be left to the prerogative of individuals and medical professional to take it away.
The ethical considerations around this issue include: It weakness society’s respect for the sanctity of life ; it undermines the worth of life ; voluntary dying could be start of a slippery slope that could lead to involuntary ending of life and killing of people who are thought undesirable ; and it affects other people’s rights’ not just those of the patient.
The practical arguments against include: proper palliative care makes euthanasia unnecessary and there are no way of properly regulating euthanasia; it undermines the commitment of doctors to safe and preserve life; if it is taken as way to save costs it could open to abuse and , in the long run, it will discourage investing in palliative care.
It should be not in the prerogative of individuals to take life.
The author is a British citizen of Pakistani origin with a keen interest in Pakistani and international affairs.
The article is the writer’s opinion, it may or may not adhere to the organization’s editorial policy.
