Q. Is blood transfusion permissible in Islam? What about organ transplant? If these are permissible, can they be done between Muslims and non-Muslims?
Ara Hassen, Khamis Mushait
A. Yes, both blood transfusion and organ transplant are permissible in Islam. Not only so, but blood and organ donation also earn rich reward from God. As you realize, sometimes blood transfusion is the only way to save the life of a person badly injured in an accident, or needing blood for an operation. Some people with blood diseases need blood transfusion on regular basis. As blood cannot be manufactured outside the human body, the only way to get blood is through donation and transfusion. Hence people are encouraged by Islam to donate blood so that blood is made available to whoever needs it, when the need arises. In this connection we may quote the Qur’anic verse: “Whoever gives it life (i.e. a single human being) is like one who has given life to all mankind.”
Similarly, organ transplant can save lives. It is, therefore, necessary that there should be enough donors to give to patients who need such organs transplanted. The important thing is that such organs and blood are given freely, and no pecuniary benefit is given to the donor.
It is perfectly permissible for a Muslim to donate blood to a non-Muslim or vice versa. It is also permissible to transplant organs between people of different faiths.
Pilgrimage for deceased parent
Q.1. Is it permissible for me to perform the pilgrimage on behalf of my father who died 30 years ago?
Q.2. Is it right or wrong to use the cloth we used in consecration, or ihraam, as wrappings before burial when one dies?
M. Basim, Jeddah
A.1. It is certainly an act of real dutifulness to offer the pilgrimage on behalf of your deceased father. Since he did not offer the pilgrimage in his own lifetime, that duty would be redeemed, and he would no longer be accountable for its omission. The only condition is that you should have performed the pilgrimage on your own behalf first. The pilgrimage is a duty we owe to God and should be treated as a debt which we settle when we offer it. Thus its repayment on behalf of one’s parents is in the same way as repaying their unpaid debts. Thus when you offer the pilgrimage on behalf of your father, you settle his outstanding debt. If he had offered the pilgrimage himself, your offering it on his behalf counts as a voluntary pilgrimage for which you earn him great reward. Moreover, in either case, you earn rich reward from God for this dutiful action.
A.2. If one retains his ihraam garments in order to be wrapped in them when he dies, this is an innovation, or bid’at, and it is wrong. It is as if one is taking with him a proof that he offered the pilgrimage, as if God does not know who has done this or that particular duty. Besides, being wrapped in such garments does not absolve him of any subsequent sin he may have committed, unless it be a very simple offense which God forgives anyway. Much better than such wrapping is to turn to God in repentance and request Him to forgive us. Having said that, I should add that if being wrapped by the ihraam garments occurs naturally, without any deliberate suggestion that it should be the case, then that is appropriate.
Zakah on business and investment
Q. I realize that when a person runs a business, he pays zakah on the income he receives from it. He does not pay zakah for the value of his factory, his lorry, machinery, etc. Now if one invests some money in an Islamic bank, should he pay zakah only on the income he receives from that investment?
Habil, Abha
A. What the reader says about exemptions from zakah is largely correct. A manufacturer does not pay zakah on the value of his factory, machinery or other means of production. A property owner does not pay zakah on the value of a building he rents out, but only on the rent he receives. There are many other examples. However, it is not true to say that the value of the business is wholly exempt from zakah. A trader does not pay zakah on the value of his shop, but he pays it for the merchandise he keeps in stock. On his zakah date, he should calculate the value of all the goods he has in stock and pay zakah for these. Similarly a shares owner pays on the value of his shares on the market on the day when his zakah is due.
There are two different views on how to pay zakah on investment in profit-and-loss-sharing accounts in Islamic banks and in shares and stocks. One view equates it with commercial merchandise, saying that zakah is due on the value of the investment and its profits at the rate of 2.5 percent. Another view says that zakah is payable on the profit only at the rate of 10 percent, equating it with zakah on land produce if the land is irrigated wholly by rain water, without need for any effort. I find the first view closer to the spirit of the zakah system.
The marriage of young people
A reader who is 19 years of age tells me that when he went to study abroad he got to know a young woman who is one year younger than him. Both feel that they want to get married. However, his parents tell him that they would agree to his marriage only when he has obtained a job and started working. He feels himself in a dilemma and he wants advice.
It is certainly a dilemma for a young man who feels the urge to get to know a woman who would marry him. He also feels a strong desire to get married so that he does not slip into what is forbidden. Yet his parents’ view that he should be able first to provide for his own living and his family before he commits himself to a marriage is perfectly understandable.
Marriage is a very important responsibility, but it is also a very important requirement for young people. How can we expect young men and women to spend the years of their early adulthood feeling the urge of a natural desire and resisting the temptation of sinful practice, unless we give them the means for such resistance.
That means is twofold: a strong faith which gives them a sense of preferring what pleases God even though it may be very hard to cope with; and a commitment to facilitate their marriage as much as possible.
I feel very strongly for my reader and his desire to get married to the woman of his choice. I also recommend his parents to help him if he wants to get married. It may be that marriage could be made easy if the two families decide to dispense with the social requirements that make marriage so difficult these days. In every country there are requirements, such as gold and dower in India and Pakistan, a furnished flat in some Arab countries, etc. Such requirements make it practically impossible for young people to marry before they are 25 years of age. If these are dispensed with, and the young couple agree to a simple marriage and to work together for their future, the matter could be easily solved. If then they join efforts in building their future and delay having children by resorting to permissible means of birth control, they have time on their side. They could enjoy a few years of happy married life, during which they may build their family home and lay the foundation for a happy family. This I recommend strongly to my reader, the woman he has chosen and to their parents.