of reality that scientific and medical progress has thrust upon us. Its positive and useful results have become evident, yet they are often accompanied by psychological and social harms that arise when it is practiced without the Sharʿī limits and safeguards that preserve human dignity, while also taking into account the higher objectives of Islamic law—objectives that secure overriding benefit for both individuals and society and call for cooperation, mercy, and altruism.

After narrowing this subject to the specific points that determine the scope of inquiry and setting in order its divisions, forms, and circumstances—which differ in their respective rulings—the Academy resolved as follows:

With respect to definition and classification:

First: The term “organ” here refers to any part of the human being—tissues, cells, blood, and the like, such as the cornea—whether still attached to the body or detached from it.

Second: The utilization under discussion is a benefit made necessary by the recipient’s need, either to preserve basic life itself or to maintain an essential bodily function, such as eyesight, on condition that the recipient enjoys a life deemed inviolable by Islamic law.

Third: The forms of such utilization fall into three categories:

1. Transplantation of an organ from a living person.
2. Transplantation of an organ from a deceased person.
3. Transplantation from embryos.

Category One: Transplantation of an organ from a living donor comprises the following situations:
(a) Moving an organ from one location in a person’s own body to another location in that same body—for example, skin, cartilage, bone, veins, blood, and the like.
(b) Transferring an organ from the body of a living person to the body of another living person. In this case, organs are divided into those on which life depends and those on which life does not depend.