Abstract
End-of-life organ donation is controversial in Islam. The controversy stems from: (1) scientifically flawed medical criteria of death determination; (2) invasive perimortem procedures for preserving transplantable organs; and (3) incomplete disclosure of information to consenting donors and families. Data from a survey of Muslims residing in Western countries have shown that the interpretation of religious scriptures and advice of faith leaders were major barriers to willingness for organ donation. Transplant advocates have proposed corrective interventions: (1) reinterpreting religious scriptures, (2) reeducating faith leaders, and (3) utilizing media campaigns to overcome religious barriers in Muslim communities. This proposal disregards the intensifying scientific, legal, and ethical controversies in Western societies about the medical criteria of death determination in donors. It would also violate the dignity and inviolability of human life which are pertinent values incorporated in the Islamic moral code. Reinterpreting religious scriptures to serve the utilitarian objectives of a controversial end-of-life practice, perceived to be socially desirable, transgresses the Islamic moral code. It may also have deleterious practical consequences, as donors can suffer harm before death. The negative normative consequences of utilitarian secular moral reasoning reset the Islamic moral code upholding the sanctity and dignity of human life.
Highlights
Scientific and scholarly debates about defining death for organ procurement purposes have intensified [1]
The medical literature is unsettled about the brain and circulatory criteria of death determination [1,4,5,6,7,8]
Ambiguities in the definition and criteria of death have compelled scholars to readdress the moral permissibility of organ donation in Abrahamic religions [2,9,10,11,12]
Summary
Scientific and scholarly debates about defining death for organ procurement purposes have intensified [1]. If the medical criterion cannot validate death determination with an absolute certainty, end-of-life organ donation transgresses the moral code. Sharif et al disapproved of 2 religious beliefs prevalent in Muslim communities: (1) the forbiddance of physically violating the living or deceased human body, and (2) the “fatalist attitudes of predetermination” prohibiting “human interference to alter a preordained course of medical events” [22] They connoted these 2 religious beliefs that are barriers to willingness to organ donation as lack of education. He did not inform the study subjects that Turkish Muslim scholars [50] have rejected brain death as the Islamic definition of death In another Turkish survey in the province of Kayseri, Guden et al [29] considered overcoming the unfavorable attitudes among religious officials (Imams, muezzins, preachers, and Quran educators) toward organ donation by mischaracterizing scientific and medical concerns as “social reflex of skeptics”:. Attempting to influence behavior and attitudes through disclosing incomplete information or communicating incorrect interpretations contradicts the Islamic moral virtues of truthfulness and honesty
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