Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, from 1 to 7 Muḥarram 1414 AH (21–27 June 1993 CE).

Having examined the papers submitted to the Academy on the topic of “Confidentiality in the Medical Professions,” and after listening to the discussions that took place, it resolved as follows:

1 – (a) A secret is whatever a person entrusts to another while seeking concealment, whether that intent to conceal is expressed beforehand or afterward. It also comprises anything accompanied by indications that disclosure is not desired, whenever prevailing custom requires that it remain confidential, as well as a person’s private matters and faults that he would hate others to discover.

(b) A secret is a trust held by the one to whom it is confided; safeguarding it is an obligation laid down by Islamic law, by sound moral character, and by the etiquette of social dealings.

(c) The default ruling is that revealing a secret is forbidden. Divulging it without a valid, recognized reason exposes one to religious accountability.

(d) The duty to preserve confidentiality is especially binding upon those whose professions would be undermined by disclosure—such as the medical professions. People in need of sincere advice and assistance rely on these practitioners and therefore confide in them everything that facilitates the proper performance of these vital tasks, including secrets they would not disclose to anyone else, even their closest relatives.

2 – Exceptions to the obligation of secrecy are cases in which concealment would cause harm greater than the harm of disclosure to the person concerned, or in which disclosure would yield a benefit that outweighs the harm of keeping the secret. These cases fall into two categories:

(a) Cases in which disclosure is obligatory on the basis of the principle of choosing the lesser of two harms,