Reaching Consensus on Organ Donation

On July 20, 2016, IIIT held a forum entitled “Reaching Consensus on OrganDonation,” in collaboration with the Washington Regional Transplant Community(WRTC; http://www.beadonor.org), to hear presentations by medicalprofessionals, community leaders, religious scholars, and social scientists. Eachof the four panels was followed by a robust Question and Answer session.Panel 1: Conceptual Framework. Lori Bingham (president and CEO,WRTC) outlined the organ donation process in terms of which organizationsand partners are involved, how medical suitability is determined, consultingwith the surviving members, and deciding who receives the available organ.After listing the agencies and the high degree of regulation involved, shethanked Imam Johari Abdul-Malik (outreach director, Dar al-Hijrah IslamicCenter) for his help in reaching out to area Muslims, some of whom declineto donate their organs on religious grounds.Muzammil Siddiqi (chairman, Fiqh Council of North America) said thatsuch decisions require ijtihād, for there are no relevant Qur’anic verses or hadiths.Although widely accepted by jurists, questions remain, such as whichorgans can be donated, should this be encouraged before or after death, can afamily donate an organ if the deceased died without a will, does donating “deform”the body, how is death determined, is the patient obliged to receive it,can he/she buy it or should it be made available for free, and so on.In his “Organization of Islamic Legal Ethics.”Abdulzziz Sachedina (professorand IIIT Chair in Islamic Studies, George Mason University) stated thatthe main issue is procuring organs, a topic surrounded by “cultural impedimentsand religious misunderstandings.” People are asking to whom does thebody belong (the person or God), can one donate that which will not growback, and if the donated organ will be returned on the Day of Judgment. Asthis is a modern issue, imams and scholars need to identiy ethical grounds in

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