Equally the Quran says that: 'If anyone saves a life, it is as if he saves the lives of all humankind'. Thus many Muslims understand from this verse that donating one's organs is a blessed act. In 1995, the Muslim Law (Sharia) Council UK issued a fatwa, religious edict, saying organ donation is permitted.
1995 - Fatwa of The Muslim Law (Shariah) Council
The basic position of this fatwa was that organ transplantation is permissible, and brain-stem death is a proper definition of death.
Emphasising the sanctity of the dead body, some Muslim scholars have forbidden organ donation. Others, believing altruistic preservation of life outweighs the first principle, have permitted post-mortem donation.
As Saint John tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) By knowingly choosing the donations of one's bodily organs, one is acting as Christ would act—giving life to humanity.
Did you know? All major religions in the U.S. support donation as a final act of compassion and generosity.
Most religions support organ and tissue donation as an act of charity and goodwill. People from all walks of life depend on organ and tissue donations, regardless of race, origin, religion or language.
There are no injunctions in Buddhism for or against organ donation. The death process of an individual is viewed as a very important time that should be treated with the greatest care and respect.
The ethical justification for the use of organs from living donors begins with a consideration of the potential benefits, mainly to the recipient but also to the donor, balanced against the risks to the donor, understood in terms of both the probability and the magnitude of harm.
Organ donation is giving an organ to help someone who needs a transplant. In principle Judaism sanctions and encourages organ donation in order to save lives (pikuach nefesh).
The donor is taken to an operating room, where organs are surgically removed. After that, the organs are sent to the transplant hospitals where candidates are waiting for them. The donor is treated with honor and respect throughout the donation.
Organ donation and transplantation is permissible within the Islamic Faith. Recently, the Fiqh Council of North America issued a FATAAWAH or FATWA addressing organ donation and transplantation, where it considered organ donation and transplantation to be Islamically permissible in principle.
“The Fiqh Council agrees with many individual scholars and national and international fatwa councils in considering organ donation and transplantation to be Islamically permissible in principle. All fatwas that have allowed transplantation have allowed donation as well.
In Islam, the end does not justify the means. The prohibited and wicked means should not be resorted to even though the end itself is noble. Thus, it is not permissible to use any unlawful means in gene therapy or any other therapy except for DIRE AND EXTREME necessities.
Pure Land Buddhism is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism that is against organ donation. They believe that the soul should be able to leave peacefully towards the path of rebirth. Since the soul takes time to depart from the physical body, they believe the body should not be disturbed when brain death is declared.
"If the animal is impure like the pig, the scholars of Islam say it's haram and it is not permissible to do the transplant if there is an alternative choice," says the Shiekh.
In Sunni Islam, the majority of scholars hold the view that surrogacy is not allowed, as it involves using a third party to conceive a child, which is seen as a violation of the natural order of procreation. Additionally, it may lead to issues of lineage and inheritance.
Orthodox opposition
Haredim in general are vehemently opposed to organ donations postmortem as it violated Jewish burial law, which considers postmortem organ removal as "desecrating a corpse". Many Haredi rabbis also oppose the removal of organs when the person is classified as "brain-dead".
Like all major religions, organ, eye and tissue donation and transplantation is permissible within the Christian faith. Major Christian denominations also all agree that donation is an act of love. Find more information on your faith here: Catholicism and Organ Donation.
Judaism holds that organs may not be removed from a donor until death has definitely occurred. Again, for some Jews the 'brain stem death' criteria are acceptable. Other Jews will only agree to removal of organs from a 'non-heart beating' donor.
Traditional organ donation requires a person to be in a hospital and on a ventilator when they are pronounced brain dead. If a person experiences cardiac death, which means the heart has stopped and will not work again, they will be evaluated for tissue and cornea donation.
The "dead-donor rule" requires patients to be declared dead before the removal of life-sustaining organs for transplantation. The concept of brain death was developed, in part, to allow patients with devastating neurologic injury to be declared dead before the occurrence of cardiopulmonary arrest.
Perhaps one of the most selfless acts a person can ever commit is donating a piece of life —giving tissue or an organ to another individual so that they may live to see another day.
Buddhism is one of the world's largest religions and originated 2,500 years ago in India. Buddhists believe that the human life is one of suffering, and that meditation, spiritual and physical labor, and good behavior are the ways to achieve enlightenment, or nirvana.
Buddhism, a religion that more than 300 million people currently practice, was founded in northeastern India by Prince Siddhartha in the sixth century B.C. Having achieved enlightenment, he became known as Shakyamuni and preached a path of salvation to his followers. Buddhism denies a supreme deity.
One of the most compelling arguments for organ donation is the love and compassion such was stated by Jesus (Matt 5:43), Paul (Rom 13:9), and James (Jam 2:8), but it can actually be traced all the way back to Leviticus 19:18.