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Peerzada Salman
December 13, 2015
‘Deceased organ donation is in accordance with Islam’
Peerzada SalmanUpdated December 13, 2015 Facebook Count Twitter Share 11
KARACHI: Organ transplantation is not a disputed issue anymore. Recently Ulema of every school of thought gathered at Karachi University and agreed that as per human needs organ transplantation is allowed and legitimate in Islam. This was stated by the religious scholar Mufti Munib-ur-Rehman while delivering a speech at a public symposium on deceased organ donation at the SIUT on Saturday evening.
Mr Rehman said his was not the only voice, who was of the view that organ donation was allowed, but thousands of Ulema in the country concurred with him. He was all praise for SIUT’s Dr Adib Rizvi and his team for rendering unmatched services to humanity. He said he had seen Dr Rizvi work and could safely claim that while there were other institutions that were doing commendable work, the SIUT stood at number one. The institution served people belonging to all backgrounds, without any discrimination, he said. He mentioned that the SIUT was a 100 per cent charitable institution and assured Dr Rizvi that he (Mr Rehman) would be available whenever Dr Rizvi sought his assistance. He lamented that those who played cricket or were in show business were well known to the nation but a selfless person like Dr Rizvi was not.
Dr Adib Rizvi said when the deceased organ donation programme was thought of there were apprehensions whether it would have the approval of religious scholars. He hailed one of his team members, Farina, for managing to assemble Ulema of every school of thought at the Sheikh Zayed Islamic Centre in a conference where all of them were on “one page” on the subject. When the idea first came about, he said, it was deemed important to consult the religious scholars so that it became acceptable in society in the larger context. The scholars were of the view that deceased organ donation was in accordance with Islam, he said. In that regard Mufti Munib-ur-Rehman played the most important role, he told the attendees who had come in a decent number. He emphasised that organ donation was the greatest humanitarian job.
Prof Francis Delmonico gave a presentation on the determination of death, with special reference to brain death. He highlighted two ways of determining death (1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions (2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain. After a detailed analysis of the subject, he said, “We are dead when we don’t have brain function,” and called it indisputable.
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Dr Faissal Shaheen gave the Saudi perspective of organ donation after death. He talked about the course of action taken in Saudi Arabia with focus on seeking “consent in an ethical way”, and the subsequent campaigns that were carried out to reach the goal. With regard to the brain-dead cases, he said an improved identification and reporting process was required.
Kuwait’s Dr Mustafa Al Mousawi’s topic was Islam and transplantation. He said Islam came for the benefit of human beings, suitable for all times, and did not contradict medical science. Early Muslims were pioneers in science, technology and mathematics, he said. He made the point that when the issue of organ donation was first raised among religious leaders, a majority of them agreed with the idea. He articulated: “transplantation is a necessity because it serves life.”
Dr Junaid Ashraf spoke on organ donation after brain death — hurdles and the way forward. Like earlier speakers, he too expressed the need for Ulema and the media to lead the way.
Dr Sunil Shroff’s presentation was on how Tamil Nadu in India progressed in the deceased organ donor transplantation programme and showed the way forward. He said he started working on the issue in 1995 and found detractors because of strong cultural and religious beliefs. In the 1990s, he said, a law was passed in India accepting brain death as a form of death. Later on, with the help of vigorous campaigning, involving film stars, cricketers and other celebrities, things started to move in the right direction and the donor figures doubled in only three years.
After the presentation, questions were put to the panel that comprised retired Justice Haziq-ul-Khairi, retired Justice Majida Rizvi, Kishwar Zehra (who played an important role in the passage of the organ transplant bill) and S. A. Malekhosseini.
Media person Ghazi Salahuddin moderated the event.
Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2015