ENGLISH – Dr. Hadil Lababidi

Dr. Hadil Lababidi

Dr. Hadil Lababidi is a Lecturer in Islamic Medical and Bioethics at the University of Zurich since 2024. Her research focuses on medical and bioethical questions in Islam, particularly issues surrounding the end of life, dementia, artificial nutrition, responsibility, conceptions of the human person, and Islamic theological perspectives on contemporary challenges in healthcare.

Her dissertation, Rūḥ and Nafs: From the Breath of Life to Selfhood. Foundational Questions of Bioethics in Islam Using the Example of Artificial Nutrition at the End of Life in Dementia (in German), was awarded the 2023 Dissertation Prize of the German Middle East Studies Association for Contemporary Research and Documentation (DAVO). In 2026, it also received the AIWG Dissertation Prize from the Academy for Islam in Research and Society.

Lababidi’s work examines whether, and under what conditions, artificial nutrition may be withheld from individuals with advanced dementia. Starting from this concrete medical-ethical challenge, it develops a fundamental reflection on the concepts of the human person, embodiment, and responsibility in Islam. In doing so, it systematically brings together theological perspectives with approaches from Islamic jurisprudence and explores how normative decisions are grounded in specific anthropological assumptions.

Her research understands Islamic bioethics as a field that connects foundational theological inquiry with practical questions arising in medicine, pastoral care, and the healthcare system. Lababidi is particularly interested in how Islamic theology can contribute to contemporary ethical debates, especially in relation to aging, illness, dementia, dying, and medical decision-making.

As a lecturer at the University of Zurich, Dr. Lababidi is responsible for the Master’s program „Health in the Context of Ethics, Spirituality and Religions“.

Furthermore, Lababidi serves as a committee member of the International Islamic Bioethics Association (IIBA) since 2025.

^{Hadil Lababidi’s doctoral thesis on »Rūḥ and Nafs: From Breath of Life to Selfhood. Basic Questions of Bioethics in Islam Using the Example of Tube Feeding at the End of Life in Dementia» (in German).}

Dr. Lababidi`s doctoral thesis deals with the question of whether artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) can be refused at the end of life. She has already begun to publish findings from her dissertation. Dr. Lababidi`s article »Artificial Nutrition and Hydration in Terminally-ill Dementia Patients and the Islamic Moral Tradition« has been published in the Studies of Islamic Ethics in 2022.

In 2023, Dr. Lababidi´s thesis »Rūḥ und Nafs: Vom Lebenshauch zur Selbstheit. Grundfragen der Bioethik im Islam am Beispiel der Sondenernährung am Lebensende bei Demenz« [»Rūḥ and Nafs: From Breath of Life to Selfhood. Basic Questions of Bioethics in Islam Using the Example of Tube Feeding at the End of Life in Dementia»] is published (in German) at EB-Verlag.

As a co-editor of the Journal of Medicine, Ethics & Islam, Dr. Lababidi intends to further promote marginalized topics in Islam and medical ethics.

Here you can get a glimpse of Dr. Lababidi`s research at this Zoom lecture on „Tube Feeding in Dementia at the End of Life from an Islamic Perspective“ hold on August 16, 2023 at Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities Faculty of Medicine Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia).

^{Dr. Hadil Lababidi on „Tube Feeding in Dementia at the End of Life from an Islamic Perspective“}