What is the ruling on purchasing body parts in general, even from polytheists?
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The questioner : The ruling on selling is known, as you see, but what is the ruling on buying if one wants to buy, and perhaps from a non-Muslim, a body part?
The Shaykh : If selling something is forbidden, then buying it is forbidden.
The questioner : I mean, if I wanted to buy from non-Muslims?
The Shaykh : There is no difference in this between a Muslim and a non-Muslim.
The questioner : If I am in dire necessity for this act, perhaps it will save a person's life?
The Shaykh : Perhaps it will save a person's life, but you are not certain that it will save a person's life. Therefore, if the matter were a matter of eating, not a matter of transplanting an organ into the body, which the body may reject and not accept, if the matter were eating, it would be permissible for you to eat what has no sanctity. For this reason, the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) differed regarding whether a person in dire necessity who has nothing but carrion is permitted to eat from it or not. The well-known position in the Hanbali school is that it is not permissible for a living person to eat anything from carrion, even if it leads to the death of the living person, because respecting the dead is like respecting the living. Some scholars held that it is permissible for a living person to eat from this carrion to remove his dire necessity, because the sanctity of the living is greater than the sanctity of the dead. This is a strong opinion without a doubt. However, eating removes the dire necessity with certainty. Therefore, when Allah forbade carrion, He permitted the person in dire necessity to eat from it, because his dire necessity is removed by it with certainty, unlike medicine and treatment. Consequently, the scholars said: It is not permissible to treat oneself with what is forbidden, but it is permissible for a person to eat what is forbidden to remove his hunger. So there is a difference between something by which the benefit is obtained with certainty and the harm is removed, and something in which that is not certain; in the latter case, one does not commit a certain prohibition to obtain something that is not certain.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : If selling something is forbidden, then buying it is forbidden.
The questioner : I mean, if I wanted to buy from non-Muslims?
The Shaykh : There is no difference in this between a Muslim and a non-Muslim.
The questioner : If I am in dire necessity for this act, perhaps it will save a person's life?
The Shaykh : Perhaps it will save a person's life, but you are not certain that it will save a person's life. Therefore, if the matter were a matter of eating, not a matter of transplanting an organ into the body, which the body may reject and not accept, if the matter were eating, it would be permissible for you to eat what has no sanctity. For this reason, the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) differed regarding whether a person in dire necessity who has nothing but carrion is permitted to eat from it or not. The well-known position in the Hanbali school is that it is not permissible for a living person to eat anything from carrion, even if it leads to the death of the living person, because respecting the dead is like respecting the living. Some scholars held that it is permissible for a living person to eat from this carrion to remove his dire necessity, because the sanctity of the living is greater than the sanctity of the dead. This is a strong opinion without a doubt. However, eating removes the dire necessity with certainty. Therefore, when Allah forbade carrion, He permitted the person in dire necessity to eat from it, because his dire necessity is removed by it with certainty, unlike medicine and treatment. Consequently, the scholars said: It is not permissible to treat oneself with what is forbidden, but it is permissible for a person to eat what is forbidden to remove his hunger. So there is a difference between something by which the benefit is obtained with certainty and the harm is removed, and something in which that is not certain; in the latter case, one does not commit a certain prohibition to obtain something that is not certain.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.