105. Does Islam support the concept of organ donation after death?

Yes, undoubtedly Islam supports donation of organs after death. This is because there is a concept in Islam, called sadqah-e-jariyah, which means continued charity or on-going charity – this is charity which comes to benefit people even after the person who made the donation has passed away. Other examples of this form of charity may be to open a school which continues to benefit people after one’s death, or planting of a tree, the shade of which may be used by travellers in future.

Moreover, the fact that our body accepts organs from another’s body is because our body has been naturally made in this way. That is, it is a natural law. If organ donation was unnatural then it would not have been possible for us to donate in the first place. If God has made our body in this way – that is, it can accept organs from others, then it means that it is part of God’s will that one person should donate to another. Hence, there is no question of lawful or unlawful when it comes to the act of organ donation. God has Himself kept the possibility in human body to accept organs from others. Therefore, those who have discovered the principle of organ donation have done an Islamic act indeed. When you add fertilizers to soil, it accepts it. This means that soil already had acceptability for fertilizers; this acceptability was not created in it by anyone external to it. It is a natural law. Similarly, the acceptability of others’ organs by a particular person shows that receiving of donated organs is normal. Organ donation is thus availing of a natural opportunity and highly rewarding.