Abstract

Although this case raises what are commonly called “cultural issues,” it does so in two rather different ways: first, an explicit question of what Shari’a, or Islamic law, teaches regarding bodily mutilation and, second, the most appropriate manner of conveying information in the idiom of the culture. It is necessary for an ethics committee or consultant who is dealing with such a case to obtain accurate information and, if possible, to ascertain how best to communicate that information