When examining the discourse surrounding PrEP as a fundamental human right, a stark divergence emerges between secular medicine and the Islamic worldview. The progressive secularization of healthcare which reduces the paradigm of health strictly to physical wellness—inevitably drives the push for PrEP as a universal right across all sociodemographic cohorts, with a primary focus on LGBT populations. In contrast, the Islamic framework restricts the ethical use of PrEP to legally married couples where one partner is already seropositive (HIV-positive). This aggressive secularization of medical knowledge has hollowed out the concept of justice (‘adl) traditionally one of the four pillars of biomedical ethics, divorcing it from the moral and spiritual coherence it carries within the Islamic worldview.
Even the concept of absolute patient autonomy can be questioned. On the ground, a person with limited health literacy and a volatile temperament can completely overrule a doctor’s expertise, especially when they are parents making life-changing medical decisions for their children.
Regarding justice, a simple question should not be dismissed: Is it truly just for a husband or wife to engage in sexual relations with random people, simply because they and their spouse are protected from HIV by medicine? When asked in general, abstract terms, the secular argument sounds harmless: “Yeah, as long as they don’t transmit the disease to their partner, it’s fine.” But what if that person is our own spouse? Is it just for you, after pouring everything into a marriage and bearing immense internal and external responsibilities, to have your partner cheat behind your back, justifying it because they take PrEP to keep you uninfected?
The secular worldview reduces sexual intercourse to the same level as eating and drinking – a mere physical appetite. In Islam, the only legal avenue for intimacy is marriage, which naturally protects couples from the high risks of STDs and HIV associated with promiscuity.
Therefore, I believe that when a married individual requests PrEP, a mandatory partner consultation should be required. The spouse must have the legal and ethical right to intervene in the decision whether to accept the request, block it, or ultimately choose to end the marriage (divorce).
Advocating for this framework nowadays is often dismissed as impossible or backward. Yet, we fail to admit how highly successful the Islamic model is at controlling disease spread. Even a closed network, such as a man married to four wives, carries a significantly lower risk of HIV transmission than an open network of casual sex and prostitution. While the modern world attempts to rebrand prostitution as a “human right” or a “woman’s choice,” we can see the disastrous public health and social consequences that occur when we reject the guidance of the Islamic worldview in our fields of knowledge.
This article is written by our guest author, Dr. Abdul Muhaimin.
