What's The Islamic Perspective On Trolley Problem?
Since the question is too hypothetical and not an objective question, it can only be answered in certain principle based statements. As per Quran 5:48 and Quran 2:286 ( See : Discussion 79805 ), we get to know that a person will be accountable on the day of jdugement as per his knowledge and resources and as per his circumstances under which a particular decision is made and on the honesty of those decisions of course. There will be situations where a person is forced to prioritize one value over another or forced to make a decision in the face of conflicting values, in all such circumstances, he will be judged based on the factors mentioned above. Example mentioned by Jameel Ahmed Sahab is very relevant and practical where doctors were at times forced to proritize patients on the basis of ther age and their immunity or at instances, they made such decisions on their own because of limited resources and limited time frames. In all such circumstances, as long as such decision was made with utmost honesty after deliberating on all the available information, then such decisions being made, even faulty at times, will not incur any sin on the person based on the Quranic verses referenced above. The Hadith of Bukhari and Muslim shared above on ijtihad is also an elucidation of one of the dimensions of the same Quranic principle. For opinion of Ghamidi Sahab on the corona virus issue and prioritizing patients , please refer to the video below from 1:46:27 to 1:50:45 https://www.youtube.com/live/bLJp76ywjWA?feature=share&t=6387
Thanks for your response, Can you shed some light on Mignonette shipwreck case.? It was an actual case.