In this blog, we will focus on the narrations that are relevant to extracting organs from a dead person. Of course, we know that there was no organ transplantation in that time, and therefore, these blogs will show how the scholars are able to look at a new topic using the insights from our textual sources.
In addition, the fact there was no organ donation in that time, means that there will not be a clear and absolute prohibition against it, so other methods/discussions are used.
In essence, these all point to the fact that amputating organs from a dead body is a disgrace/is haram. Firstly, I will look at the narrations chosen by Ayatullah Muhammad Asi al-Muhsini (1):
• Sahih of Jamil from more than one person from Abu Abdullah (AS) that he said: amputating the head of a dead person is worse than amputating the head of a person who is living.
• Sahih of Masma’ Kardayn who said: I asked Abu Abdullah about a man who cut the bone of a dead person? He said: the Haram of this, when it is concerning a dead person, is greater than if the person was alive (3)
• Sahih of Safwan who said: Abu Abdullah (AS) said: Allah disdains thinking about a mu’min, except good; and you cutting his [referring to Mu’min’s] bones, whether the person is alive or dead, is the same (4)
• Sahih of ibn Sinan from al-Sadiq (AS) about a person who cuts the head of a dead person, and he said: he has to pay diya, because it is forbidden when the person is dead in the same way as if the person is alive (5)
All of these narrations are considered sahih (good chain of narration), and given there are no qualifiers/exceptions/conditions, we might infer using the usul al-fiqh principle of itlaq, that the rule is a general rule i.e. it is Haram to cut the body of a Muslim full stop.
[Although Ayatullah Muhsini does not discuss this point here, I would like to just note that this rule is not applicable to non-Muslims as the general idea in Islamic law, is that it applies to Muslims only, and it is unfair to impose our practices on others.]
There are also a range of other narrations on this topic but they essentially say the same thing so I will not repeat them here (e.g. refer to (6)). In the next blog, we will analyse the importance of these ahadith in determining the base position of the various scholars.
(1) Al-fiqh wa al-masa`il al-tibbiyya by Ayatullah Muhammad Asif al-Muhsini, Issue 20: Rule of amputating organs of the dead person, Page 176-180
(2) Ahadith from Jami’ al-Ahadith, Volume 26, Page 497-9
(3) also in Was`il, v 19, page 351
(4) also in Was`il, v 19, page 351
(5) also in Wasa`il, volume 19, Page 248
(6) Wasa`il, chapter on diya
I'm sure you'll cover this in future blog, but can you clarify the context of these hadith? I have heard some narrations that forbid mutilation of dead bodies after defeating the opposition at war is forbidden. However, the intention in this narration would be to "cut" or dismember a body in order to humiliate it, whereas the intention of "cutting a body" in order to harvest organs to save another person's life is probably seen as desirable and rewarding. Apologies if you plan to discuss this in future blogs.
ReplyDeleteAlso, these hadith point specifically to the cutting of the "head", or the "bones" of a body. I am struggling to understand how you have inferred that it is therefore haram to cut the "body" of a muslim? (E.g. an incision, be it medical, or even "ritual").
Thanks
Thank you Asad for a very good question. This highlights a key methodological issue facing Shi'i scholars:
ReplyDeleteCan we contextualise narrations or not?
i.e. in a situation where cutting dead bodies occurs in a specific context, can we assume that its prohibition is ONLY in that context? Or not - and how far can we go?
This question, is actualy something that many "reformists" are working on - and if you see some of my blogs on "Progressive Muslims", you will see how they tackle it. If you have time, the work by Fazlur Rahman is one of the key works in the area. However, contextualisation is not (in its absolute sense at least) mainstream
In the later blogs, we will see that some scholars have only inferred the respect that must be kept for the dead body from these narrations; and understand the fact that organ donation is completely different (in fact an act of kindness).
In addition, we will deal with this point directly in the next blog iA :)
Please re-ask the question if the next blog does not answer it :)
(Also btw - it's not me inferring/saying anything here - I am ONLY relating other people's opinions)