Living with the Genome, by Angus Clark and Flo Ticehurst, within the Muslim Context

Modern genetics has ushered a new phase in human history and revolutionized human understanding of how living organisms are constituted and how they function. More particularly, it has revealed the processes associated with the transmission of inheritable features and characteristics to subsequent generations. The new knowledge that it generates brings promises of unprecedented preventive as well as therapeutic possibilities, especially as far as inherited diseases are concerned. These unprecedented possibilities are by no means limited to the fields of health care and life sciences as they touch many other aspects of our lives. However, as much as this genetic revolution has given rise to new exciting possibilities, it has also raised important ethical questions pertaining to the production and application of genetic knowledge. It is within this context of the double-edged nature of modern genetics that Living with the Genome: Ethical and Social Aspects of Human Genetics has to be placed. Although published in 2006, the book still provides a useful introduction to the range of ethical, legal, and social implications of modern genetic research and technology. It comprises 42 articles on a wide range of topics, which are drawn from the Encyclopedia of the Human Genome (one of the co-editors of the book, Angus Clarke, was also the editor of the “Ethics and Society” section of this reference work). The book is intended to enhance the readership of these topics by making these articles available to a wider audience beyond specialists in human genetics. In terms of its basic subject matter, genetics aims to study how living organisms both change and maintain their basic characteristics over time. This