Decision No. (201) (11/2014) by the Ifta`a Board : Ruling on Medical Use of Cadavers
Date: (19 Ramadan, 1435 AH), (17/7/2014 AD).
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions:
The Board of Ifta`a and Islamic Studies, in its 9th session held on Thursday(19 Ramadan, 1435 AH) corresponding to (17/7/2014 AD), reviewed the formal letter of His Excellency the Premier regarding giving permission to the University of Jordan to bring in four parts of frozen cadavers through the Queen Alia International Airport in order to use them for educational purposes at the morgue of the Faculty of Medicine.
After deliberation and careful study, the Board has decided what follows:
There is a consensus amongst Muslim scholars regarding the inviolability of a human being whether alive or dead, and the impermissibility of aggressing him/her. Allah, The Almighty, says: “We have honored the sons of Adam.”{Al-Isra/70}. Prophet Mohammad(PBUH) said: “Breaking the bone of the dead is the same as breaking the bone of the living" {Narrated by Abu Dawood}.
Securing the necessary interests permits making use of these parts for medical purposes since the rules of Sharia call for getting the benefits while avoiding the shortcomings. Medical sciences and treatments are some of the most important means of acquiring safety, and learning medicine is a common obligation on the Muslim Ummah and doing so nowadays requires learning anatomy and other medical branches. Moreover, there is no doubt that parrying the harm from inflicting a living person is more important than parrying the harm from a dead person when both benefits are conflicting. Accordingly, resolutions and fatwas were issued by the Fiqh assemblies allowing the use of dead bodies or parts of them for educational purposes. Resolution(10/1) by The Islamic Fiqh Assembly in Mecca stresses the inviolability of the dead and the impermissibility of deforming his/her corpse since the rights of a Muslim must not be violated regardless of whether he is alive or dead.
Based on the aforementioned, there is no harm in allowing the university of Jordan to bring parts of corpses for educational purposes, and Allah knows best.
The Grand Mufti of Joradan , Sheikh Abdul Karim Al-Khasawneh
Dr. Hayel Abdel Hafiz / Member Prof. Abdunassir Abu Al-Bassal / Member
Sheikh Sa'id Hijjawi / Member
Dr. Yahya Al-Btoush / Member
Dr. Mohammad Khair Al-Issa / Member
Prof. Mohammad Al-Qhidah
Dr. Mohammed Al-Khalayleh/Member
Dr. Wasif Al-Bakri / Member (Disagrees with reservation) Dr. Mohamed Al Zoubi, Member