The Ruling on Taking Organs from a Corpse

The Shaykh : The deceased is respected, and it is not permissible to take anything from his organs or to break anything of his organs, because he is a trust that will be resurrected; he will be resurrected in his complete form on the Day of Resurrection. If that is the case, it is not permissible for us to take anything from him. For this reason, the Hanbali jurists (may Allah have mercy on them) stated that it is not permissible to take anything from the deceased's organs, even if he bequeathed them, because the deceased is respected just as the living person is respected. If we take an organ from the deceased or break a bone of his, that is a transgression against him and an aggression upon him, and we would be sinners for doing so. The deceased himself cannot donate any of his organs, because his organs are a trust with him, a trust in which it is not permissible to be negligent. For this reason, Allah the Exalted said: 'Amr ibn al-'As (may Allah be pleased with him) interpreted this to mean that if a person is in a state of major ritual impurity and is in the desert and fears that if he bathes he will be harmed, 'Amr ibn al-'As included this case within the verse. 'Amr ibn al-'As (may Allah be pleased with him) was in a military expedition, became in a state of major ritual impurity, and the night was cold, so he performed dry ablution and led his companions in prayer. When they returned to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the news reached him, he said to 'Amr: meaning, did you not perform the full ritual bath? He said: "O Messenger of Allah, I remembered the saying of Allah the Exalted:

And do not kill yourselves [or one another]. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful.

ولا تقتلوا أنفسكم إن الله كان بكم رحيما

[An-Nisa 4:29]

and I feared the cold, so I performed dry ablution." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) laughed and approved his action and his use of the verse as evidence; he did not say that the verse did not indicate this. Therefore, anything that harms our bodies or takes away something from them is not permissible for us to do. "Do not kill yourselves." Why is it forbidden for us to consume tobacco and other harmful things except for the sake of protecting the body? The body is respected. This is the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): This includes the blood by which a person is destroyed, which is killing, and the blood less than that, such as a wound or a broken bone or the like. The rest of the hadith will come, if Allah wills. In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. The author (may Allah have mercy on him) stated, quoting from Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), what he narrates from his Lord, that He said: We have previously discussed the beginning of this hadith, this phrase, and clarified that injustice occurs in three matters, which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) specified in his sermon during the Farewell Pilgrimage: souls, blood, honor, and wealth. He said: We have previously discussed some of what relates to blood. As for his saying: Wealth has been forbidden by Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, for some of us to take the wealth of his brother without right, in any form, whether he takes it by force, or by theft, or by snatching, or by betrayal, or by deception, or by lying, in any form he takes it, it is forbidden for him. Therefore, those who sell to people with deception, especially the vegetable sellers, every dirham, meaning every riyal, indeed every single qirsh that enters their earnings in excess of the price due to deception is forbidden. Those who deceive in selling or buying commit two prohibitions: the first prohibition is aggression against their Muslim brothers by taking their wealth without right, and the second is that they incur the disavowal of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). What a bad trade it is, a trade in which its owner, or the one who joins it, is associated with the disavowal of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, in what is authentic from him: And among this is what some neighbors do; you find one encroaching on his neighbor's land in order to increase his own land. It is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that: On the Day of Resurrection, it will be a collar around his neck from seven earths, refuge in Allah, which he will carry on the Day of Gathering. This is from injustice. Also from injustice is when a person has dirhams owed to another, and the one who owes the right denies it and says, "I have nothing for you." This is consuming wealth by falsehood. Even if it is assumed that he litigated with his opponent before a judge and won the case before the judge, he will not win before Allah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Do not think that if you win your case against your opponent before a judge, and you are in the wrong, you will be safe from this in the Hereafter forever, because the judge only rules based on what he hears and does not know the unseen. But the Knower of the Unseen, Mighty and Majestic, is the One who will hold you accountable on the Day of Resurrection. Also, among the types of consuming wealth is when a person claims against another what he does not have, claims what he does not have, and presents false testimony as evidence for it, and a judgment is issued in his favor. This is consuming wealth by falsehood. The types are many, but they are all forbidden if they are not with right. For this reason, He, the Exalted, said: As for the Bedouins, they are also forbidden; it is not permissible for a person to fall into the honor of his brother, backbiting him in gatherings, cursing him, for that is among the major sins. Allah, the Exalted, said: Look at the order: avoid much suspicion. If a person suspects something about his brother, he spies on him. For this reason, he said: If he spies, he then backbites him.