Received: 7 March 2018 | Accepted: 3 May 2018 DOI: 10.1111/xen.12421 ORIGINAL ARTICLE The ethics of organ donation, donation after circulatory determination of death, and xenotransplantation from an Islamic perspective Aasim I. Padela1,2,3 | Rosie Duivenbode1 1Initiative on Islam and Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA Abstract 2Department of Medicine, Section of Donation after circulatory determination of death (DCDD) and xenotransplantation Emergency Medicine, University of Chicago, are advanced as possible solutions to the growing gap between the number of indi- Chicago, IL, USA viduals in need of organ transplantation and the pool of donors. Investigating how 3MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, various publics, including religious leaders, might view these “therapies” is essential USA for broad public and professional support and will be needed in order to make these Correspondence solutions viable. This study, therefore, presents normative Islamic bioethical per- Aasim I. Padela, Initiative on Islam and spectives on donation after circulatory determination of death and xenotransplanta- Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. tion. First, we will discuss foundational Islamic ethico- legal debates regarding organ Email:
[email protected] donation. These debates can be grouped into three broad positions, those who con- Funding information sider organ donation categorically impermissible as a violation of human dignity Health Resources and Services (ḥurma and karāma), those who agree that organ donation is impermissible in princi- Administration, Grant/Award Number: R39OT31104 ple, but allow it conditionally on the basis of dire necessity (ḍarūra), and those who permit organ donation based on notions of public interest (maṣlaḥa).