Organ Donation/Blood Donation

[peace786]

Assalam-u-alaykum

Imam Shahib,

I would like to know what Islam says with regards to organ donation and blood donation.

Is it acceptable to donate ones organs after death in order that it may save the life of another human?

Is it acceptable to recieve an organ in order to save your own life?

I have read that submitting a corpse to such matters will distress the soul of that corpse as it would if that person was alive.

What about blood donation - is it acceptable to give and recieve? What if I were to receive the blood of a kafir?

Jazzakallah

[Imam]

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu


All Praise be to Allah who is the Lord of the Worlds, and may Endless Blessings be showered upon His Most Beloved, and Final Messenger of Islam, Hadrat Muhammad Mustafa Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam

Sorry for the delay in answering your question. Your question is a good/important one, although I have answered a question previously on the prohibition of organ donation. (please refer to the ask imam question and answer archives, under the heading fiqh/madhhabs archive, entitled organ donation, is it possible?'

However, there has been a study and research by a Sunni scholar of the ahl-as-Sunnah wal Jama'ah in relation to such issues, in the commentary of Muslim Sharif, by 'Allamah Ghulam Rasul Sa'di, from Karachi, who is the Shaykh-al-Hadith at Dar-ul'ulum Na'imiyyah. The excerpt is as follows:

'There is no doubt that blood fluid is prohibited (haram), and impure (najis), but when there is no other means of treatment for example due to an accident, being shot, or because of an operation, that so much blood has been lossed, that without the re-use of blood the patients life is endangered, then in such a critical and involuntary situation, it is permissable to treat a patient with blood.

Another example of this is where someone is the target of blood cancer (sartan), in which after a certain period of time the whole blood in the body is to be replaced with new blood, prevention of which could cause the patient to die, then in this case Allah the Almighty has stated the permissability of the use of blood along with it's prohibition (hurmat). Allah the Almighty states:

'Only the dead animals, blood, the meat of the swine, and those animals upon which at the time of slaughter, the name of someone other than Allah has been uttered is prohibited (haram). And that person whose intention is not to go beyond the sin (ma'siyyat), and the limit (hadd) and uses them out of emergency, then there is nothing in that'.

(Qur'an,Baqarah, 173)

Also:

'Say to them Oh Beloved! that the revelation I recieve there is no prohibited object of consumation that has been stated except the dead (animal), the flowing blood and the flesh of the swine because it is impure, and except that slaughtered animal upon which the name of someone other than Allah has been uttered. That person should not then go beyond the sin (ma'siyyat), nor the limit, but uses them out of emergency, then your Lord is the Most Forgiving and Most Affectionate.'

(Qur'an, al-An'am, 145).

Also:

'Those things the are forbidden (haram) have been expressly stated, except this that you use them out of emergency.'

(Qur'an, Al-An'am, 119)

The taking of blood may occur for many reasons. One of those reasons is because of the blood loss due to an accident, in which case emergency blood is required. The other reason is that when the body ceases to create blood, in which case one has to have blood intake regularly. Another reason is when someone is faced with blood cancer, in which case at an appointed time the blood must be renewed every month. Sometimes the case is that after a big operation, the presence of blood is required. Thus, it is not permissable to take blood for the sake of becoming strong or powerful, nor is it allowed legally (shar'ann).

By the way, where a Muslim doctor suggests that a person must have the intake of blood otherwise he will become fatally ill or die, then leagally (shar'ann) he is permitted to take the blood. Rather it is leagally permissable (shar'ann ja'iz), in this case for the use of an impermissable or prohibited object.

One question that arises is that, when the blood of one person is given to another, then do they become 'mahram'? The answer to this question is that the law (shar'iyyat) has only casted the issue of 'mahramiyyat' on descendancy (nasab), milking (rada'at), and reconciliation (musalihat), as taking blood from another does not prove this otherwise. However, a wife can give blood for her husband, and vice versa.'

This has been a very good topic for discussion. I think you will find that the other question I mentioned earlier is someewhat limited. However you may find frm the research scholar that the above rules do apply.

Please do post again for any similar issues.


Jazak'allah for your question.





Wallahu A'lamu Biththawaab


M. Waseem Ashrafi