“It's in God's Hands”: The Attitudes of Elderly Muslim Women in Antwerp, Belgium, Toward Active Termination of Life

Abstract

Background: The influence of Islam is increasing in Western societies due to different migration waves. Migrants originating from Islamic countries are confronted with a dominant right to self-determination mentality in the West, which affects attitudes regarding a number of issues, such as those surrounding death. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 first-generation Muslim women who migrated to Belgium from Turkey and Morocco between the early 1960s and early 1980s, with the aim of eliciting their attitudes toward active termination of life. Results: We found a huge contrast with the secular right-to-die discourse, which is quite dominant in the West. Among the participants, we elicited a predominantly negative attitude toward (non)voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. We observed that participants displayed a theological line of reasoning when dealing with these bioethical issues similar to the one offered in normative Islamic guidance (e.g., fatwas). Conclusions: The study shows an important and complex impact of religion, specifically one's image of God, on attitudes toward active termination of life, and points to the danger of adopting a simplistic and non-nuanced approach to Islam.