Javad Hashmi spent the last decade of his life becoming a doctor, having recently completed medical school and residency. However, he admits that his "true passion" is, and always has been, theology.
An emergency room doctor and fellow at the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Hashmi is now pursuing a master of theological studies degree at HDS. The 32-year-old wants to use his background in medicine and his passion for theology, particularly in his own Muslim tradition, to become an Islamic bioethicist.
The path to HDS has so far been full of long days, hard work, and transition. Hashmi studied engineering as an undergraduate, but "really didn't enjoy it at all," so he switched to medicine. As an attending physician at a critical access hospital in an underserved area of Massachusetts, he works in 24-hour shifts. This is in addition to his responsibilities at HMS and as an HDS student.
"It's a very hectic year and I work every single day of the week, but I'm just happy when I'm here on campus," said Hashmi.
At HDS, Hashmi's studies will allow him to synthesize two seemingly disparate fields of study: medicine and theology.
"My mentor during residency pointed me in the direction of bioethics, and so I had to make the decision where to go to obtain an eclectic education," Hashmi explained. He knew HDS could help him reach his goal and a visit to the School on Theological Education Day solidified his belief that he wanted to be here.
"HDS was one of the few places that I saw where they really take a good balance between faith-based perspective as well as secular academic perspective, and I feel like both kind of coexist here," he said.
Hashmi wants to use his study at HDS and background to bridge Islam and bioethics in order to advance a common language between the two. He believes Muslim physicians can play a special role in human and women's rights advocacy in the Islamic world.
One of the projects he's working on is a book on the theological and bioethical arguments against corporal and capital punishments.
"There are individuals and groups in the West who are opposed to such corporal and capital punishments, but they sort of speak past the audience they're trying to reach because they can't speak the language of that faith tradition, and until you actually speak in that language, you won't convince anyone," he said. "Until you speak their language, you're not going to change anything on the ground."
Thus far at HDS, Hashmi has discovered that the open discussions with his peers about religion have helped expand his learning. He said that reading a book on biblical hermeneutics helped him to understand the Qur'an more.
"You learn from other religions and being in a room with people of all different faiths, or no faith at all, and I think that's beneficial," he said. "I really like the environment here and I wish that's how religion was discussed in the public as well."
—by Michael Naughton