Kod Etika Islam untuk Bioteknologi Moden

Biotechnology has been identified as one of the five strategic technologies expected to drive Malaysia in becoming a highly industrialized nation by the year 2020. In 28th April 2005, the forth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had launced the National Biotechnology Policy which endorsed the use of modern biotechnology to improve the agricultural, food and medical sectors. Despite Malaysia’s efforts in developing biotechnology, Malaysia also desires to become an ‘Islam Hadhari’ country. Thus all projects of modernization including biotechnology must be in line with the principles of Islam. In Islam,ethic is known as Akhlak, which is mostly defined and explained by the al- Quran and the Sunnah. The ethics of modern biotechnology from the Islamic perspective are classified according to three parts of akhlak, which are ethic issues related to God (Allah), ethic among human beings and ethics related to living entities. Several Islamic scholars have attempted to explain the ethical issues in modern biotechnology using the al-Quran and the Sunnah. However, an Islamic code in modern biotechnology especially in agriculture has not yet been structured. In this paper, the five pillars of Islam, the six pillars of Iman and Ihsan will be applied as the basis of an Islamic ethical code in modern biotechnology. Islamic values that can be incorporated into the ethical guidelines for the three main stakeholders: the policy makers, the implementers and the consumers will also be discussed.