A Comparison between Brain Death and Unstable Life: Shi'ite Perspective

• Published in: The Journal of law and religion 2008, Vol.23 (2), p.605-627
• Main Author: Tavakkoli, Saeid Nazari
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Blood; Brain death; Death; Fetus; Islam; Jurisprudence; Muslims; Religious laws; Soul; Symptoms
• ISSN: 0748-0814; 2163-3088
• DOI: 10.1017/S0748081400002381

Death comes to us all. It is a reality that grips us all because we become separated from our loved ones. In all cultures, there is the hope that when death comes, it will be swift and will allow us to depart without prolonged suffering. There is also a social dimension to this inevitable event in human life: we hope that our death will not force hardship on family and friends, making them pay both financially and emotionally due to an uncertain condition that is created by a lingering spirit that does not sever its ties to the body. It is at such moments that we realize the importance of having a clear definition of death. Brain death as a way of measuring when death comes is an issue that has recently been under scrutiny throughout the world of medicine, but it has also been hotly debated in Islamic jurisprudence as well. Thanks to advanced medical technology, it has now become possible to transplant body organs of a person suffering from brain death into the body of a needy ill person, but for the most part, successful transplantation must take place before the emergence of traditional death symptoms. Physicians and ethicists have struggled with the difficulty in offering a medical definition for brain death. The question that has arisen for Muslim jurists is whether, from the point of view of Islamic jurisprudence, someone suffering from brain death should be considered as dead for purposes of permitting transplantation of organs, or whether Muslims must treat a brain-dead patient as a living person from a legal and ethical perspective.