Gulf | Oman
Omani scholar says organ donations not permissible in Islam
Organ donation, including eyes, is not permitted in Islam, said an Omani Islamic scholar, who sees no harm in donating blood even in Ramadan.
- By Sunil K. Vaidya, Bureau Chief
- Published: 23:52 September 16, 2008
Muscat: Organ donation, including eyes, is not permitted in Islam, said an Omani Islamic scholar, who sees no harm in donating blood even in Ramadan.
"There are three schools of thought on organ donations by Muslims but the majority of Islamic scholars believe that organ donation is not permissible in Islam," Shaikh Khalfan Al Esry, a member of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque's Steering Committee for Islamic Information Centre, told Gulf News in an interview.
Blood donation, he stressed, was different, as it is replenished.
He said that a minority group of scholars believe organ donation was permissible while some would like to leave it to the individual to decide.
"Our body is sacred and a dead body is respected in Islam and there's no need to scavenge it for organ donations," Al Esry said.
Reasoning
"We handle the body with care and give privacy to it by covering it while taking it for burial. Then how can we think of removing its parts ?" he said.
Removing organs for donation, he reckons, amounts to disrespecting the dead.
Al Esry also argued that an individual doesn't own his or her body. "It is a gift of the God and in Islam an individual can neither harm his or her own self physically, mentally nor spiritually."
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