Can Muslims Donate Organs or Receive Transplants?

Mohamed El-Souri received a heart transplant as a teenager.

Muslims in the U.S. often wonder whether organ donation and transplant are permitted in Islam. Until recently, the answer to that question has been less clear.

Currently, there are nearly 115,000 American residents desperately waiting for vital organ donations, many of whom are self-identified Muslims. The American Muslim Community has now in its possession an authoritative religious ruling which paves the way for Muslim families and individuals to answer the call to “Donate Life” and to help relieve that disparity.

Is Organ Donation Haram?

On July 20th of 2016, The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) along with The Washington Regional Transplant Community (WRTC) convened the nation’s first Fiqh Forum titled, “Reaching Consensus on Organ Donation: A Call to the American Muslim Community.”

Since that initial Fiqh Forum quite a few successive rounds of deliberation over the religious, social, and biomedical aspects of the procedures were discussed at length. After much deliberation and a second Fiqh Forum, on December 2, 2018, Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah of the Fiqh Council of North America answered that long-awaited question: What is the Islamic stance on organ donation and transplantation? The Council’s answer:

“The Fiqh Council agrees with many individual scholars, national and international fatwa councils in considering organ donation and transplantation to be Islamically permissible in principle.”

Many Arab Americans and Muslims in Michigan have received organ transplants and become organ and tissue donors. These stories are important for educating and inspiring the community to save and heal more lives.

In 2019, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the Washington Regional Transplant Community (WRTC), Muslim Life Planning Institute (MLPI), and AaliaNetwork, LLC, announced the “Islamic Stance on Organ Donation and Transplantation.” Additional perspective, nuances, and background information on this determination are available for medical professionals and other interested parties through a Transplantation Direct journal article.

Organ Donation

 

Read More Posts

Waiting for hope

Theresa Hardnett is one of the 2,600 Michiganders currently waiting for a lifesaving organ. Living…

Read More

‘I miss the ability to be spontaneous’

Bernice Conn never expected a routine physical in March 2022 to change her life.  “I…

Read More

Dior Chambers is waiting for that life-saving gift

Dior Chambers is no stranger to kidney disease. It has touched every corner of her…

Read More
Dr. Alfred Bolden and Rev. Dr. Remonia Chapman

30 Years of Detroit MOTTEP – The beginning of building community, hope and trust

Dr. Alfred Bolden’s involvement with organ, eye and tissue donation started over thirty years ago…

Read More
Marge Del Greco, two-time liver transplant recipient and Legacy Award recipient

2025 Champions Gala

Congratulations to the 18 people and organizations we will recognize at Gift of Life Michigan’s…

Read More
Carla Mendoza Bussell received a double lung transplant, allowing the mother of four to finish raising her kids and meet her grandchildren.

Gift of Life launches annual appeal for financial giving

Gifts pay for efforts to grow the Donor Registry  Gift of Life’s annual fundraising appeal…

Read More
Scroll to Top