The Role of Islam in Decent Care for People with Stigmatized Diseases: An Evaluation via the Concept of Human Dignity
Authors: GULDAS Fatumetul Zehra 
Published: March 2020

Individuals’ rights and freedoms within the scope of human rights have been tried to be guaranteed by many international organizations and laws (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, World Health Organization) with universal legal regulations. In addition to many norms of respect, such as personal rights and freedom, justice, peace, and social equality, human dignity is at the forefront of an individual's own value as a human. Although these norms are considered to be applicable to all individuals through international legal regulations, it is often overlooked to identify an approach under the qualification of human dignity when it comes to pandemic (such as HIV/AIDS) or other dangerous epidemics. With the increasing interest, many health-oriented approaches have been developed in recent years by taking into account human dignity, thanks to the careful efforts of many health institutions, especially the World Health Organization. However, the contribution of religious attitudes to these ap-proaches is lacking, especially in Muslim communities either because people do not have enough religious knowledge or have an unclear understanding of it. For this reason, in this study, a conceptual framework related to human dignity was first evaluated in the context of human rights, then it was discussed in the context of Islam and it was explained how important human dignity is in both the Qur'an and the Hadith. And then the suggestions of the general quality of health services in the light of human dignity were given. Finally, the compo-nents that are based on human dignity and decent care are highlighted and it is discussed whether there is a compensatory function in the health sector of human dignity for future studies.Today, it is noted that the underlying reason for ignoring human dignity today is due to religious explanations and discourses rather than social percep-tion and stereotyped thoughts or tradition-traditions. Whereas, as in other Abrahamic religions, Islam says that human dignity originates from God, and considers human as valuable only because it is human. That is, according to Islam, a human being is a worthy being by birth. Given that, ignoring human dignity will lead to unavoidable consequences when it comes to vital loop since human dignity, which is a universal value, is a concept with theological, socio-logical and psychological dimensions. In particular, decent care required for stigmatized individuals, such as people with HIV/AIDS, can lead to various psychological and sociological problems, as human dignity is not taken into consideration. Likewise, showing offensive attitudes and behaviors towards this kind of pandemic disease will lead people who have such illnesses to lose their respect for themselves and others, to be excluded and to withdraw socially. In Islam, many verses and the hadith underline the protection and maintaining human health under all circumstances.Considering all these, this study examines the four basic components of human dignity according to Islam in order to develop new attitudes in healthcare. The first and most important of these is the right to live. Here, sever-al human dignity norms such as respecting the individual and social rights of the person, ensuring personal safety, promoting freedom of belief system, etc. are included. These are supported by the verses and the hadiths in Islam, and actions such as murder, suicide, killing or maiming are explicitly prohibited. The second is the right of freedom, which means that people control their deci-sion-making processes, are subject to their own actions and do nothing to en-danger the freedom or safety of others. The third is the right to religiosity, which is accepted as a natural right of human dignity. What is meant here is that no one has the right to force someone else to choose religion or to change reli-gion, and at the same time they will not be judged for their right to religious-ness. The fourth and last one is the right to equality social advantages in justice. In Islam, human dignity is based on the freedom of choice in every person's social life. Therefore, Islam brings fundamentally responsible and protective regula-tions to human dignity so that people can live in peace, security, and comfort.Moreover, elements such as the right to live, the right to freedom, the right to religiousness and the right to equal justice offered by religion are within the scope of a belief system in which people respect the dignity of all individuals and that each person has an unconditional value. These components have the potential to play an important role in developing innovative approaches and techniques that promote decent care in health services for individuals whose health status requires special treatment. Although these human dignity com-ponents that we have mentioned have common meanings in terms of universal legal values, the place of human dignity in practice may be affected by cultural and social judgments. For this reason, the religious security of each person should be carefully examined so that healthcare providers can provide decent care. Undoubtedly, having a deeper understanding and sensitivity about the concept of human dignity in the context of belief will provide a responsibility to apply and develop decent care in many societies. In addition, it is the ulti-mate goal of this study that healthcare providers or practitioners can use reli-gious perspectives to help stigmatized people how to manage their lives with-out losing their dignity and health.In conclusion, this study aimed to understand the developmental state of reli-gion with human dignity and pandemic diseases. The most obvious result of the study is to raise awareness about some of the basic components of religion, such as freedom, rights of life, equality, and safe religious life, to safeguard human dignity. As a step towards creating more perspectives for awareness-raising, it is suggested that researchers who care about human dignity can use belief systems to create innovative approaches in health care. In this way, it will be possible and visible to make human rights and especially human dignity better equipped in the context of health.