What is the ruling on donating a kidney?

The questioner : What is the ruling on donating a kidney?

The Shaykh : I differ with the majority of those who issue a ruling of permissibility, and I hold that it is not permissible. The reason for this, in my view, lies in two matters. The first is that I look at such as the saying of Allah the Exalted: . When He created man and proportioned him, and preferred him over many of those He has created, and perfected his creation, it was to the point that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as you know, would include in his supplication the words: . This perfection of the human creation by Allah is not to be tampered with under the pretext of doing good. In your question, which is limited to the donation of a kidney, I say that this donation of a kidney first involves what can be included in the general prohibition by him (peace and blessings be upon him) of mutilation. He (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited *al-muthla*, which is disfiguring the creation of the Most Merciful, Blessed and Exalted is He. The second matter is that removing this kidney from the human body may expose this person to illness, or perhaps even to death. I discussed this with some of the doctors who adopted those opinions that permit donation, and even permit the sale of a kidney for a price or money. I discussed with some of the doctors the following: I said, "You, in your capacity as a Muslim—and on this occasion I do not say 'you as a Muslim,' for we should avoid this expression because it is a translation of a foreign expression; rather, we say, in place of 'you as a Muslim,' 'you in your capacity as a Muslim'—in your capacity as a Muslim, you undoubtedly share with us the belief that Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, did not create two kidneys in man in vain, but for a profound wisdom." He will naturally say, "Yes, that is so." We then ask, "What is the wisdom?" What we know, and you know better than we do, is that a person may sometimes suffer from the failure of one of the kidneys, in which case the other performs its function, and the life of this person, whose first kidney has failed, continues. He says, "Yes." So I built upon this the following: I said, "If you have decided, with the consent of the donor or the seller of one of his two kidneys, to detach it and implant it in another body, are you able to guarantee that the other kidney, which will remain in the body of this donor or this seller, is guaranteed not to fail?" He said, "This is not possible." I said, "Then here the divine wisdom appears: that He created two kidneys so that if one fails, the other performs its duty. If you remove one, you have nullified the wisdom of Allah in creating two kidneys, not just one." And I said to him, "The example is before you. I personally was told—and Allah knows best, we do not know—after they removed a stone for us through a simple surgical operation, that after several months I complained of some discomfort, so I had a scan done. They said, 'This right kidney is inactive.' If I had been one of those who see—God forbid—the donation, let alone the sale, of one of the kidneys, and I had donated the left kidney, and then shortly thereafter the first one had failed, I would have exposed myself to destruction. So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) says: . They say in our region of the Levant, in the language of the common people: "Help your companion with something that does not harm you". This is a duty for you, for example, if you have two loaves and you need one, you give the other to the one who needs it. But do you have two hands, so you cut off one and give it in charity to the one whose hand was cut off? No. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: . Therefore, it is not permissible to donate any of the organs, for the reasons we have mentioned: first, it is mutilation, and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited *al-muthla*; and second, because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, did not create it in vain. So we leave the creation of Allah as Allah created it, and we do not impose the logic of the disbelievers and seek nearness to Allah through it. This is the very essence of misguidance. This is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.