Islamic Perspectives on Organ Transplantation: A Continuous Debate

Abstract

From a medical perspective, as well as an ordinary human perspective, organ transplantation is often understood as a process through which health is restored to sick humans and, consequently, their quality of life improved. Organ transplantation is a medical surgical procedure carried out by an expert or a team of experts who remove a failing or diseased organ or organs from the human body and replace it or them with a functioning organ or organs. With such positive portrayal of the process, organ transplantation is highly recommended and encouraged in modern medicine. However, in Islam, the Qur’an and hadiths—the two great texts of the religion—are silent on the subject. In other words, there is no discussion of the subject in the texts and, therefore, it is not clear whether organ transplantation is permissible or not in Islam. Thus, is organ transplantation an accepted modality of treatment that eliminates the patient’s agony from end-stage organ failure, remains an open-ended question. Whilst some Muslim scholars and jurists argue in favour of organ donation and transplantation, there are others who reject the practice as a breach of shari’ah. This paper posits that the subject of organ donation and transplantation in Islam is an unresolved matter without a ubiquitous consensus. The purpose of the paper is to educate the readers about the two key perspectives on the subject, and highlight that more research and a robust academic and sociological debate are needed to resolve the question of organ donation and transplantation in Islam.

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