Curbing food insecurity through GM foods: Islamic ethical perspectives

Naeema Halim

Chapter 5 in Food Security and Islamic Ethics, 2025, pp 115-134 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Sustainability is one of the ethical challenges when it comes to maintaining food justice. One of the greatest pandemics of our times, COVID-19, has further highlighted food-related insecurities, especially among underprivileged communities across the globe. GM foods are being touted as a prominent food technology that promises to address all issues related to food insecurity. This chapter evaluates the claims of GM foods to remove hunger from the planet, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, through the lens of possible benefits, expected harms, and associated values. The study takes into consideration the universal ethical principles of beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and autonomy, both within food ethics and its related cognate disciplines. This is followed by an Islamic ethical analysis in which it is concluded that GM foods should be analysed beyond the binary lens of ḥalāl and harām as they fall under the Islamic category of permissibility (ibāḥa) until their harm is firmly established. GM foods can be a viable solution to the “Feed the World” problem, but they should be accepted/not accepted keeping in mind the maqāṣid al-sharīʿa and the priority principles related to maṣlaḥa and mafsada. Muslims, while adopting the latest technologies, must not neglect their responsibility towards society and the environment.

Keywords: Genetically modified; GM; Foods; COVID-19; Food insecurity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035333578
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035333585.00011 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:23369_6

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().