Question
Assalam Mualaykum.
My daughter is 22 years old, and is suffering with a debilitating liver condition. It has got to the stage now where the doctors are suggesting a liver transplant is required.
Is it permissible to accept a liver transplant to increase once quality of life?
Jazakallah Khairun.
Answer
We pray that Allah the Almighty grants your daughter a full and speedy recovery.
There are two opinions of our scholars in regards to organ transplants. The first is of the majority of our scholars who hold a more conservative view and only allow organ transplants if a person is in a life-threatening situation. They will still not allow a person to donate their organs even upon death, as they argue that we humans are not the owners of our bodies rather they have been entrusted to us by Allah and therefore we cannot do as we wish with them. Being able to accept an unlawful entity in time of dire need does not necessitate the permissibility of donating it. Take for example the issue of a person about to die of thirst and they do not have anything but alcohol available to save their life. Shari’a permits this person to drink enough alcohol that would save their life. This permissibility does not mean it will be permissible for Muslims to sell alcohol.
The second opinion is of those scholars who permit organ donation. Amongst this group of scholars are some Arab scholars as well as some UK scholars such as Mufti Zubair Butt. They argue that donating an organ does not violate the sanctity of one’s body and the organ after all is still being used by the creation of Allah for the purpose for which it was created.
In a case where there is no strong need we would still discourage having a transplant but there would be scope for a person who wishes to follow the other opinion.
Below is a link to the detailed fatwa issued by Mufti Zubair Butt:
https://nhsbtdbe.blob.core.windows.net/umbraco-assets-corp/16299/organ-donation-summary-fatwa.pdf
https://nhsbtdbe.blob.core.windows.net/umbraco-assets-corp/16300/organ-donation-fatwa.pdf
Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow
Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel