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HIV/AIDS
in the Muslim Middle East
Christian
H. Meier
Doktorandenkolleg
"Zeitkulturen"
Konstanz
Universität
Alemania
Since
the 1980s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been posing one of the biggest
challenges to the international community, and it will continue doing so
in the 21st century. The challenge does not only refer to health and care
but also to the social, the economic and the political stability of the
societes. While the Middle East has for a long time been one of the
regions least affected by the epidemic, in recent years HIV/AIDS rates
there grew “at an alarming rate”, according to the WHO Regional
Bureau. UNAIDS estimates the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the
region around half a million. This is still low, compared to regions as
Sub-Saharan Africa or the Pacific. But apparently, in the Middle East
HIV/AIDS is not confined to specific groups any more, but has started to
spread into the general population. More than in other parts of the world,
many of the practices that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS—paid
sex, sex between men and injecting drug use—are socially not accepted
and/or illegal in the Muslim societies of the Middle East. Therefore,
stigma and ignorance are widespread.
As
a UNAIDS report states: “Efforts to defuse the social stigma and
institutional discrimination experienced by vulnerable groups remain few
and far between; so, too, education and communication to deepen public
knowledge of the epidemic.” How do Islamic scholars in the Arab states
assess the HIV/AIDS epidemic? In my contribution, I will analyze the
proceedings of a conference of the Islamic Organisation of Medical
Sciences (IOMS) of the early 1990s which dealt with the topic of “Islamic
views on the societal problems of AIDS”. The IOMS papers, consisting of
the studies presented, discussion notes and the final recommendations of
the conference, provide invaluable source material for the scholar,
interested in the process of decision-making and the arguments among Ulama
as well as physicians.
In
the IOMS’s gathering, different aspects of HIV/AIDS were discussed among
the participants: medical implications and requirements but primarily
legal prescriptions of the Sharia, connected with those infected by HIV.
The topics of many of the presentations show a distinct tendency towards
an apologetic stance, defining HIV/AIDS primarily as a legal-moral problem
to be dealt with in the framework of the Shariah. I will also pay
attention to the final recommendations of the conference, which advise
certain actions in order to prevent a further spread of HIV. In many cases
they constitute the basis upon which later on Fatwas will be formulated.
In these religious-legal pronouncements, the apologetic approach to the
illness usually dominates over other aspects, such as prevention and care.
HIV/AIDS is above all seen in the framework of religion and Islamic values
and norms pertaining to family, marriage and sexual life.
About
Christian Meier
M.A.,
Middle Eastern Studies (University of Hamburg) Ph.D. student, University
of Konstanz (Center of Excellence: "Cultural Foundations of Social
Integration") Editor, "zenith - Middle Eastern Quarterly"
(Germany)
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