অর্গান ট্রান্সপ্ল্যান্ট, ময়না তদন্তের ব্যাপারে ইসলামিক হুকুম কি?

The Islamic Ruling on: Organ Transplant, Autopsy?

Answer: First, as for your question about organ transplants, it is clear that you have seen the evidences that indicate the prohibition of transferring organs from the dead person whose blood is sacred to the living as stated in the cloning booklet. It refers to two evidences for the prohibition of organ transfer from the deceased to the living and they are:

1- No one has the authority over the deceased’s body after his death; neither the deceased nor his inheritors have authority over his body after his death, as stated in the Shariah evidences. Therefore, neither the deceased nor the inheritors have the right to donate an organ from body of the deceased because it is not in their possession, nor in their authority.

2- It is not permissible to violate the sanctity of the deceased and to harm him, and likewise it is not permissible to mutilate the body. This is as follows:

a- As for the prohibition of violating and hurting the body of the deceased, “These ahadith show clearly that the dead have a sanctity just like the living body. They also show that violating the sanctity of the dead body and hurting it is like violating the living body and harming it. So, as it is not allowed for anyone to transgress against the living person by cutting his stomach, cutting his neck, taking out his eye, or breaking his bone, similarly it is not allowed to do this to the dead. As it is not allowed to harm the living by cursing, beating, or injuring, it is not allowed to do this to the dead,” and from these Hadith:

‘Aisha, the mother of the believers, may Allah bless her, narrated that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ said,

«كَسْرُ عَظْمِ الْمَيِّتِ كَكَسْرِهِ حَيّاً»

“Breaking the bone of a dead person is just like breaking it when he is alive.” (Narrated by Imam Ahmad,Abu Dawud, and Ibn Habban).

Imam Ahmad narrated that ‘Amir ibn Hazm al-Ansari said the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) saw me leaning on a grave and said;

«لَا تُؤْذِ صَاحِبَ الْقَبْرِ»

“Do not harm the owner of the grave.”

Imam Muslim and Ahmad narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ said;

«لَأَنْ يَجْلِسَ أَحَدُكُمْ عَلَى جَمْرَةٍ مُتَحَرِّقَةٍ خَيْرٌ لَهُ مِنْ أَنْ يَجْلِسَ عَلَى قَبْرٍ».

“For somebody to sit on a burning piece of charcoal and burn himself is better for him than to sit on a grave”

b- As for the mutilation of the deceased, “To remove the eye of the dead person, or to cut him open to remove his heart, kidney, liver, or lungs, to transfer it to another person who needs it is considered mutilation of the dead body, and Islam has forbidden mutilation.

Bukhari narrated that ‘Abdullah ibn Zaid al-Ansari said;

«نَهَى رَسُولُ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَنِ النُّهْبَى وَالْمُثْلَة»

“The Prophet of Allah, peace be upon him, prohibited looting and disfiguring.”

Imam Ahmad, Ibn Majah, and Nasa’i narrated from Safwan b.Assal that he said that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ sent us on an expedition and said;

«سِيرُوا بِاسْمِ اللهِ، وَفِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ، قَاتِلُوا مَنْ كَفَرَ بِاللهِ، وَلَا تُمَثِّلُوا وَلَا تَغْدُرُوا وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا وَلِيداً»

“Go in the name of Allah, and for the sake of Allah. Fight those who disbelieve in Allah. Do not mutilate, betray, or kill children.”

According to the above mentioned evidences, it is very clear that to transfer an organ from the deceased, whose blood is sacred, to the living is forbidden in Shariah.

It is not said that Shariah has permitted treatment with the Haram, such as medication with alcohol, therefore it is permissible to transfer the deceased’s organ to the living, even if this transfer is forbidden; this is incorrect because the treatment that is permitted in Shariah is using the Haram and the impure without transgressing or harming others. Ibn Majah extracted from Tariq ibn Suwayd al-Hadrami who said:

«قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنَّ بِأَرْضِنَا أَعْنَابًا نَعْتَصِرُهَا فَنَشْرَبُ مِنْهَا قَالَ لَا فَرَاجَعْتُهُ قُلْتُ إِنَّا نَسْتَشْفِي بِهِ لِلْمَرِيضِ قَالَ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ لَيْسَ بِشِفَاءٍ وَلَكِنَّهُ دَاءٌ»،

“I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, in our land there are grapes which we squeeze (to make wine). Can we drink from it?’ He said: ‘No.’ I repeated the question and said: ‘We treat the sick with it.’ He said: ‘That is not a cure, it is a disease.’”

This is a prohibition of impurities or haram “alcohol” as medicine; however, the Prophet ﷺ permitted the use of impurities “the camel’s urine”

«أَنَّ نَاسًا مِنْ عُرَيْنَةَ اجْتَوَوْا الْمَدِينَةَ فَرَخَّصَ لَهُمْ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَنْ يَأْتُوا إِبِلَ الصَّدَقَةِ فَيَشْرَبُوا مِنْ أَلْبَانِهَا وَأَبْوَالِهَا...»،

“Some people from `Uraina tribe came to Medina and its climate did not suit them, so Allah’s Messenger ﷺ allowed them to go to the herd of camels (given as Zakat) and they drank their milk and urine (as medicine)” [Bukhari from Anas]

They came to Medina and its climate did not suit them, and they fell ill, so the Prophet ﷺ permitted them to use the impurities, the camel’s urine as medicine. Also the Prophet ﷺ permitted using the Haram in medicine, by wearing silk (for men); Tirmithi and Ahmad extracted and the version is of Tirmithi from Anas:

«أَنَّ عَبْدَ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنَ عَوْفٍ وَالزُّبَيْرَ بْنَ الْعَوَّامِ شَكَيَا الْقَمْلَ إِلَى النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي غَزَاةٍ لَهُمَا، فَرَخَّصَ لَهُمَا فِي قُمُصِ الْحَرِيرِ. قَالَ: وَرَأَيْتُهُ عَلَيْهِمَا»،

“That ‘Abdur Rahman bin ‘Awf and Az-Zubair bin Al-‘Awwam complained of lice to the Prophet ﷺ during a battle that they participated in. So he permitted them to wear silk shirts. He (Anas) said: “I saw them wearing them.”

These two Hadiths are indications (qareena) that the prohibition in the Hadith of Ibn Majah is not definite, i.e. seeking the cure with impurities and the Haram is Makrooh.

These evidences show that Shariah permitted the treatment with impurity and the Haram and classified it as Makrooh, but the treatment of impurity, “the urine of camels” and the Haram of “wearing silk” differs from the treatment by a Haram that includes attacking others. The latter does not fall within the exception, i.e., seeking treatment by the Haram due to its different reality. For example, is it allowed in Shariah to attack a living person and take his kidney from him by force to treat an ill patient who needs a kidney (like what happens in the so-called Third World countries of abducting children or adults in order to extract some of their organs for transplants to patients in the so-called developed countries)? The answer, of course, is that this is Haram and it is not permissible because it violates others. The Haram that can be used in treatment does not include the Haram that involves attacking others, because the evidence of the permissibility of using the Haram for medicine does not apply to it.

Therefore, it is not permissible to get the cure by violating the body of the deceased by transferring his organs to the living person, because this is forbidden because it is considered to be a violation of the body of the deceased, and because the evidence of the exception of the treatment with a Haram does not apply to it.

Second: As for your question about anatomy and that its prohibition deprives students from knowledge and learning about the human body, how will they resume their work?! And that the prohibition will stop the forensic doctor from knowing the circumstances of the crime and does provides important information that helps the police to explore the facts.

My brother, the Shariah evidences are many on the prohibition of violating the body of the deceased as shown above. Thus, the anatomy of the body of the dead is forbidden in Shariah because it is a violation on the dead regardless of any other considerations. And to make things clearer, I ask you: Is it permissible for students with the pretext of studying medicine and to know about the human body to violate the body of a living person and to perform his dissection without killing him, such as opening his abdomen and exploring his internal organs? Your answer, of course, will be, no it is not permissible because it is violation on the body of this living person; why then does it occur to you that this is permissible with the dead person, and the Prophet ﷺ said:

«كَسْرُ عَظْمِ الْمَيِّتِ كَكَسْرِهِ حَيّاً»

“Breaking the bone of a dead person is just like breaking it when he is alive.”

The shar’i ruling is more deserving to be followed, and it is not permissible to change it for any of the arguments.

As for the teaching of medical students and their knowledge of the human body, the permissible means are many. Moreover, the Muslims must develop the modern methods so that students can better identify the human body without resorting to autopsy, for example, the development of computer programs that enable students to deal electronically with the three dimensions of the human body organs… etc., or any means of imaging from outside the body to see inside or so on, using the means of modern technology. This is knowing that I have been informed by some medical students that they did not benefit much from the lesson of autopsy, especially that the dissected bodies are placed in substances that affect the nature of muscles and blood vessels and very different from the nature of the living body.

This is similar to exploring the truth of the crime, it is not correct to resort to carrying out an autopsy of the deceased body because this is forbidden by Allah (swt), just as it is not allowed to torture the accused in order to explore the truth of the crime. The solution is to search for means and methods permissible to search and clarify the facts, and not in violation of the Shariah’s command and the violation of the deceased body, whose honour is in his burial.