Home > News > ISNA Mourns Dr. Hassan Hathout
ISNA Mourns Dr. Hassan Hathout
[May Allah Have Mercy on Him]
ISNA joins Muslim Americans in condoling the death of Hassan Hathout (1924-2009), MD, PhD, FRCOG, FRCSE, FACS, a multicultural physician, ethicist, and poet, who died Saturday, April 25, 2009 at home in Pasadena, CA.
He grew up in surroundings where love of God and country, and call of duty, were pivotal. With much talent, learning, discipline, and meditation, he was able to combine a highly successful career in academic medicine, ethics, and theology.
Dr. Hassan Hathout received his extensive postgraduate training in Britain at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland where he earned the triple degrees of: Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Doctorate of Philosophy in the field of Reproductive Genetics. Subsequent affiliations included Fellowship of the American College of Surgeons, International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and World Health Organization committee for medical ethics. Together with being a medical school Professor and Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology, he was an active member of the WHO committee on ethics of human reproduction, and a close affiliate to the Vatican.
Concomitantly, he was co-founder of the International Organization of Medical Sciences, designed with the primary goal of dissemination of God-guided medical ethics. Over the years, this organization has proven to be a valuable source of information for religious and secular communities on rapidly advancing, ethically controversial fields such as abortion, alternative medicine, genetic engineering, transplantation, and stem-cell research.
Hassan Hathout was the keynote speaker at the first Christian-Muslim celebration at the White House in 1999. Additionally, he was the co-founder of the Interfaith Council of Southern California, and an invited speaker in many religious and interfaith locations locally and nationwide, including the Wilshire Temple, the Crystal Cathedral, and the United Methodist Church of Pasadena. Dr Hassan Hathout’s many awards included awards from interfaith and humanitarian communities including the Jewish Christian Muslim Olive Branch for his efforts in making peace and harmony between people of different faiths, and the Initiatives of Change Life Changer award. He was author of numerous medical, ethical, and religious manuscripts, chapters, and books including: The Spirit of the Red Cross in the Teachings of Islam, The Humane Physician, Islamic Perspectives on Obstetrics and Gynecology, Reading the Muslim Mind, Thus Shall I Stand before God, and Audible Silence.
Dr. Hathout served on ISNA’s Majlis Ash-Shura from 1997 to
1999. He also received ISNA community service recognition award at ISNA's west zone regional conference. l999, the Islamic Center of Southern California conferred its American Muslim Achievement awards on Dr. Hassan Hathout.
In addition to being a scientist and ethicist, he was a bicultural and bilingual poet, speaker, thinker, and writer.
He is survived by wife of more than fifty-six years, Salonas, a retired pathologist, his daughter, Eba, is a Professor of Pediatrics at Loma Linda University Medical School in Southern California, and grandchildren Sarrah and Hassaan Shahawy.