Sitting next to my mother while she received dialysis in hospitals on various occasions, I would pay close attention to what Dr. Faisal Shaheen, director of the Saudi Center of Organ Transplantation, has to say about the campaign for awareness on organ donations. Saudi TV channel Al-Riyadyyah (sports channel) hosted a discussion earlier this year with Dr. Shaheen and a father who donated organs of his brain-dead 8-year-old daughter as part of the awareness program. The discussion on the organ donations was held from both a scientific and a religious point of view. The impact it has on families of both the donors and the recipients was explored. All thanks to God the campaign was responsible for an 80 percent increase in the number of donors as compared to the number of donors last year. These results were attributed to the increasing awareness in the Saudi society. But at the end of this program, a father, whose son was declared brain dead, called in and indirectly accused organ donation officials of being criminals. He called the act of removing organs from brain dead victims as akin to “killing.” He cited some verses of the Qur'an to support his argument. I empathize with the caller and don't blame him for his anger. We all would just about do and say anything to protect a loved one, especially in time of grief. But as Muslims we must look at the bigger picture. We must look at how the entire society benefits from organ transplants. We should not judge such sensitive issues based on our emotions at hand. Dr. Shaheen said transplant programs will help save lives of more than 11,000 patients. In 2006, more than 5,000 potential transplant recipients remained on waiting lists. An organ donation will spare Muslim patients the daily pain of dialysis and water drainage. And it will save the country billions of riyals spent on medication, money that should go for prevention and research. We all have a responsibility towards our society, which should never be separated from our religious duty. I am aware of the fact that some Muslim scholars are somewhat conservative on the issue of organ donations, especially on the issue of declaring a person dead. A team of religious scholars and scientists should sit together and discuss the issue before a Fatwa is issued. This is exactly what the Supreme Council of Senior Scholars did. In 1981, the scholars allowed both organ donation and organ transplantation in case of necessity. The organ can be taken from the body of a living person with his/her consent and also from the body of a dead person, they noted. The Fiqh Academy of the Muslim World League in Makkah also allowed organ donation and transplantation during their 8th session in 1984. In 1987, the Fiqh Academy of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Jeddah and the Mufti of Egypt, Dr. Sayyed At-Tantawi, allowed organ transplantation from people killed in accidents. It is important to note that most of the jurists have only allowed the donation of the organs. They do not allow the sale of human organs. Their position is that the sale of human organs violates the rules of the dignity and honor of the human being, and so it would be Haram (forbidden) in that case. If we consider organ donations from an Islamic point of view, though I am not a religious scholar, we should take into consideration the verse that says, “Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.” (Qur'an, 5:32) I recognize that much of these religious issues boils down to the definition of death. The People's Assembly in Egypt this month is struggling with this very issue. Akram Al-Shaer, an Egyptian MP and member of the health committee studying the issue for the People's Assembly, told the Egyptian press last week that he opposes a proposed organ donation law. Al-Shaer told a television interviewer that, “I will only approve the new law if it was issued based on a correct definition of death, which is the permanent and definite stop of both the heart and the brain and should be declared by a professional physician based on an extremely accurate and scientific analysis.” He said the proposed law makes no mention of the stopping of the heart to be an indication of death, leaving only brain failure as the only indication. Al-Shaer has a point: Death should be declared by a professional physician based on science. As far as I am concerned that statement makes his point irrelevant. A person who is declared brain dead by a qualified doctor will never rejoin his family no matter how long the heart remains beating or how strong our emotions are for our loved ones. Death is a messy thing. Rarely does death accommodate us by having brain and heart functions cease at the same time. But having one or the other stop functioning is indeed death in my opinion. At some point we must rely on the professional physician to tell us when a loved one is dead and to be ready to save another's life. Coming back to the issue of organ donations, why do we leave the strong evidence that supports it, including the Fatwa from the Council of Senior Scholars, and instead follow ignorant people when it comes to religion? By having organ transplant centers and systematizing the process of donations and transplants under the supervision of a competent authority, we spare the society from the trap of commercial abuse. Only by moving beyond the borders of our selfishness and limited thinking can we help promote healthy programs. — The wirter can be reached at [email protected]. Her blog: www.saudiwriter.blogspot.com __
