Codes and Oaths in Science Offer a Covenant for Peace in Middle East
By Harvey Rubin and Saleem H. Ali
The world is convulsed by the ongoing tragedy and the global reactions to the violence and havoc in the Middle East. As professionals in the sciences, coming from Jewish and Muslim faith traditions, we have been reflecting on ways by which a peace agenda can be promoted in the academy. Universities have unfortunately become scarred by polarized conflict over the politics of the region rather than convergent zones for finding common ground. Codes of conduct and oaths that scientists and medical practitioners take could perhaps be a means by which we reset our interactions and explore pathways for constructive confrontation.
While versions of these oaths and codes evolve, the common ground stays firm. These edicts motivate us to use our skills to help individuals and society without regard to social, economic, religious, or belief system. We are trained to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate the evidence that inform our advice and conclusions, and to consistently and truthfully convey our guidance and counsel.
Specifically, part the oath of a Muslim physician states: “To be the instrument of Thy Will and Mercy, and, in all humbleness, to exercise justice, love and compassion for all Thy Creation; To extend my hand of service to one and all, to the rich and to the poor, to friend and foe alike, regardless of race, religion or color; To hold human life as precious and sacred, and to protect and honor it at all times and under all circumstances in accordance with Thy Law.”
Hippocratic oath includes: “Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free.”
And the oath of Maimonides includes: “May I never see in the patient anything but a fellow creature in pain. Grant me the strength, time and opportunity always to correct what I have acquired, always to extend its domain; for knowledge is immense and the spirit of man can extend indefinitely to enrich itself daily with new requirements. Today s/he can discover his errors of yesterday and tomorrow he can obtain a new light on what he thinks himself sure of today.” Finally, in the most stark, compelling terms, both the Qur’an, Surah 5 verse 32, and the Talmud Sanhedrin 37a, categorically affirms: “if anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he had saved the lives of all mankind.”
Political figures, public intellectuals, leaders of industry, academics and academic administrators, media pundits, all manner of social media posts and encounters between individuals and groups around dinner tables and in the street, fiercely compete to be perceived as seizing the high ground on the issues arising in the Middle East and speech on campus. It is quite clear from events over the past few weeks, some figures are far less successful than others.
College campuses are a hotbed of tensions that arise from the shear complexity of the problems, and has led to an unprecedented level of vilification, stigmatization, leveraging by wealthy donors and calls for changes in administrations and University policies. The environment is not cooling off. The rhetoric is increasingly polarized; despicable statements emanate from all sides of the political spectrum providing little room for understanding and finding creative solutions to complex social, political, economic and moral problems. Subsequent clarifications and apologies are often issued, but not before much of the damage in terms of conflict escalation has been inflicted.
We strongly suggest that commonalities of the professional oaths and codes described above provide an actionable way forward. We appeal to all parties on campus and off to commit and adhere to a synthesis of the codes: knowledge is immense — discover errors of yesterday and tomorrow and obtain a new light on what you think sure of today in order, in humility, to exercise justice, love and compassion for all. This is precisely what higher education should do and has done in the past.
Let us all feel comfortable in questioning the establishment but not be paralyzed by paranoia and the allure of conspiratorial thinking. International behavior changes just as much as human behavior, and we should always be willing to embrace positive change among nations. The level of inveterate hatred that existed between the United States and Japan led to the world’s only nuclear conflagration. Yet both countries have healed those wounds and are now staunch allies within a generational memory. Much of this happened through a realization that technical cooperation and trade could trump animus.
Foes of yesteryear can become friends today, and we should cautiously focus on such positive transformation rather than languishing in the past. Even territorial disputes which seem like zero sum games played with religious absolutism can be transformed if we are able to focus on the underlying humanism that can be found in scripture and tradition. Our code of conduct in academia and beyond are the beacon illuminating the way to a more peaceful future in the Middle East.
Harvey Rubin is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Saleem H. Ali is Chair of the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences at the University of Delaware.