Ulum Islamiyyah: Malaysian Journal of Islamic Sciences

The current events on the relation between the West and Muslim world dictate comprehension of fundamental features of Islamic international relations. Muslim intellectuals have to contribute to this timely phenomenon in order to enhance the true picture of Islamic view on the subject. This could only be done with the condition that one refers to the views of Muslim classical jurists on the issue and interpret these views according to the time-space factual experience. The typical legalistic format and traditional approach to the study of international relations will no longer be applicable. Muslim-non-Muslim relation is not based on a "state of war" as depicted by minority hatred-oriented Muslim individuals. Historical dimensions on the aforementioned relation are indicative of this assertion. Muslims should not limit themselves on the framework of operational details of early juridical rulings rather should respond to current events on international relations according to the political and social situations of the contemporary world order.

As a result of the expansion of scientific and technological innovations, bioethics as a field of study in the hierarchy of disciplines has emerged; it raises questions on human life, death, dignity, creativity, role of God in human innovation and moral values. This paper is on the ethics of cloning; the word cloning literally connotes a cell or group of cells, the process of human cloning may use a technique called Human Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer. Clone also refers to an organism descended asexually from a single ancestor. The paper raises divers ethical questions related to cloning. The first ethical question on cloning involves in the origin of the clone and its relation to other humans as the clone child has no genetic father or mother in a family lineage. Another question is will the process affect the social identity, relationship and responsibility as these are widely connected to biological kinship? The paper also discuses the opinions of the advocates and opponents of cloning, it further weighs human dignity and cloning from a Qur'anic perspective.