Organ donation (4)

In the previous blog, I touched on the fact that this ruling would not be applicable to non-Muslims. This may seem discriminatory i.e. how can we cut up a non-Muslim for organs, but not a Muslim?

Ayatullah Fadlallah deals with this quite powerfully in some of his works on the topic (1), where he argues:
• There is an Islamic law of how to deal with other religions: “Enjoin on them, by what they enjoin on themselves”, and “Followers of a religion are allowed to do what they believe in”
• He considers this point to be an example of true openness in Islam, because although Islam has its laws and structure, so do other religions.
• He points to the rule of marriage: “For every people is nikah, through which they are protected from zina”, which gives legality to marriage in other religions
• Therefore, according to those who do not consider the amputation of organs something that is against their moral values, rather they consider it a normal matter (unlike Islam which places a value on the issue of respecting the dead body), it is not an issue for them

I found this the best explanation of the apparently “discriminatory” issue i.e. that there was a potential issue to cut the body of Muslims but non-Muslims. Ayatullah Muhsini’s argument is based on the fact that the narrations are clear in their reference to Muslims but not to non-Muslims.

However, care must be taken – that in reality, even if the derivation of the law seems entirely logical and non-discriminatory, the end result does seem discriminatory. This is because Muslims are net recipients of organs from non-Muslims, with a clear law not to not allow Muslims to donate to non-Muslims. Doesn’t law have to not only be fair in theory but also in practice?

I do want to note, however, that Syed Fadlallah is different from many other scholars, because he does allow organ donation to non-Muslims (as explained in later blogs) – but he considers all options and explains things in a way that is easier to understand (hence the above!).

Now in the next blog, we will focus on the reality of the situation i.e. it is not just cutting the body of a Muslim – rather, it has several effects e.g. helping other people out and potentially saving another life. Therefore, the question is – what happens to this base position?

(1) http://arabic.bayynat.org.lb/marjaa/tabaroh.htm