Organ donation and transplant: The Islamic perspective

We are pleased to announce the acceptance of our paper Organ Donation and Transplant: The Islamic Perspective into Clinical Transplantation, authored by Abeera Ali and co-authors from the team, as well as Dr. Shabir Alibhai and Ani Orchanian-Cheff.
Islam is the second most practiced religion in the world with the number of Muslims in the West steadily increasing. Previous studies have found that compared to individuals from other religions, Muslims had more negative attitudes toward organ donation and transplantation. It was also found that Muslim patients in Toronto being assessed for transplant were less ready to
pursue living donor kidney transplantation compared to Caucasian non-Muslims. Many religious patients and healthcare providers rely on guidance, we believe it is important to summarize the opinions and rulings of Islamic bodies with regarding organ donation and transplant.

Table 3 summarizes the opinions of Muslim scholars and ruling bodies of both the Shia and Sunni Sects

This paper also identified key factors and concerns such as: mistrust of the healthcare system, lack of information, family opinions, sacredness of the body, lack of clear understanding from religious leaders and more.
We hope to use this research and partner with Muslim organizations to develop an educational toolkit for Canadian Muslim patients and their families on organ donation and transplantation.

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