In the previous blog
we looked at some major scholars’ views on organ donation. Now we will continue
and look at a few more.
First, the view of
Ayatullah Saanei – his view is similar to that above i.e. as long as it is for
noble goals e.g. developing medical knowledge, confirming the truth about death
organ donation is allowed. However, unlike Ayatullah Fadlallah he considers it
important to get the family’s consent as well as have a will in place. (1)
Next, the view of
Ayatullah Jannaati is that organ donation is allowed if there is a will from
the donor, and a need from the recipient. However, he specifically excludes the
donation of an eye whilst alive; but allows the donation of organs from
animals, even those that are considered inherently impure (najis al-‘ayn e.g.
pig) because after the transplantation, the organ becomes part of the
recipient. (2)
Finally, the view of
Ayatullah Khamanei is that he considers it to be okay as the goal is worthy
e.g. saving a human life, medical experiments, providing information about a
disease/death (e.g. autopsy)…etc.; however, he does use language not dissimilar
to Ayatullah Seestani and Ayatullah Muhsini i.e. “it is necessary, as far as it
is possible to dissect a non-Muslim’s body, not to dissect a Muslim’s cadaver”
and with respect to digging graves of dead individuals “As to the graves of
Muslims it is not permissible to do so unless there is a pressing need for the
bones for medical purposes and it is impossible to obtain such bones from the
graves of non-Muslims”. (3)
There are technical
details about whether diya is required but I have not included these
discussions above.
Note that these
discussions are not particularly a Shii discussion. We see similar arguments
amongst our Ahl al-Sunna brothers/sisters (4), with some in favour of organ
donation and others against. Similarly, there are discussions amongst the
Jewish community (e.g. the London Beth Din – (5)). However, these are outside
the scope of this discussion so for those interested, please refer to the
sourced websites. Similarly, there is considerable research that has been done
in the field of Islamic bio-ethics (6), which some argue is not understood well
enough when determining these rulings. A useful quote in the pre-eminent work
on the topic is: “Framed in this balance of benefit and harm, it would appear
that the new rulings on organ donation have a single objective: to preserve the
health and well-being of the two parties involved in an organ transplant, without
any reference to other aspects of the issue. Hence, any considerations
regarding other social and religious distinctions have no place in the
rulings.” And “the spirit of Islamic revelation does not permit any distinction
when it comes to saving a life of another human being. If these jurists regard
it permissible to receive organs from non-Muslims, such as the Peoples of the
Book (ahl al-kitab = Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians), then the principle of
reciprocity makes it obligatory to do the same for others in return. The
discriminatory attitudes that proscribe organ donations to non-Muslims are
based on classical juridical decisions that need re-evaluation in light of
basic moral principles”
We have now come to
the end of our discussion on organ donation – hope it was informative and at
the minimum, provided a good explanation.
In the next series of
blogs, we will be looking at the issue of moonsighting!
(6) The most comprehensive work on the topic is by Sachedina
(Islamic Bio-medical
ethics – page 194 onwards); but there are also journal articles e.g. Islamic
Medical Ethics and the Straight Path of God by Kyriakides-Yeldham in “Islam and
Christian–Muslim Relations,” Vol. 16, No. 3, 213–225, July 2005
