Organ donation and trafficking

The Weekly Trust edition of Saturday March 30, 2013 reported that a 30-year old father of three, Sulaiman Sani, went on a Kano radio programme to offer his kidney for sale at half a million naira to enable him settle the debts he owed his wife’s relations who settled (on loan) his medical bills for […]

The Weekly Trust edition of Saturday March 30, 2013 reported that a 30-year old father of three, Sulaiman Sani, went on a Kano radio programme to offer his kidney for sale at half a million naira to enable him settle the debts he owed his wife’s relations who settled (on loan) his medical bills for the injuries he suffered from a reprisal attack launched by irate youths at Sabon Tasha in Kaduna. The injuries, according to Sulaiman, left him with deformed hands as a result of which he became a motor park attendant in Kano where he had gone in search of a means of livelihood. He lamented how his deformed hands have made him unfit for any physical work that could earn him a better job. Sulaiman further explained that the money he gets daily as a motor park attendant could only cover his feeding, which is by no means enough to settle his debts. “Selling my own kidney”, he mentioned, “Will be a better option for me than to commit suicide”.
Of course, it would sound odd to many to hear that a normal and sane human being wants to dispose of one of his bodily organs. It sounds more amazing to be told that those who offer their bodily organs for sale do so not because such organs put their health at risk but simply because they desire to use the proceeds from the transaction to settle their domestic needs. This piece intends to clarify Islam’s position on organ donation and trafficking.
Majority of Muslim scholars have agreed that organ donation, like blood donation, is permitted provided: (1) It would help the recipient with certainty; (2) It does not cause harm to the donor; and (3) The donor donates the organ or tissue voluntarily and without any financial benefit or remuneration attached to it. Based on fundamental principles of Shari’ah, organ donation is permissible as long as neither the donor nor the recipient is exploited. Furthermore, beneficiaries of donated organs must be treated without regard to race, ethnicity, identity, class, or economic status. This is to avert any possibility of segregating between recipients of donated organs. If bequeathed organs were allowed to be traded, there’s likelihood that they would go to highest bidders; precluding patients with poor financial capacity from benefitting.
As for organ trafficking, existing legal opinion (fatwa) of scholars points to its prohibition. What is organ trafficking, in the first place? The United Nations Trafficking Protocol states that organ trafficking occurs “when a third party recruits, transports, transfers, harbors or receives a person, using threats (or use) of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of authority or a position of vulnerability for the purpose of removing that person’s organ(s). Where children are concerned, the removal of an organ(s) facilitated by a third party constitutes trafficking with or without considerations of deception or coercion”.
According to this protocol, third parties may include brokers or others such as medical professionals or laboratory technicians acting as brokers. The prohibition by Islam of trading in human organs goes beyond trafficking. The deliberate sale by an individual of any of his bodily organ is also forbidden in Islam. Even if the transaction in the retailing of organ were to be completed between two persons without a third party, scholars opine that Islam nonetheless disapproves of the deal. Jurists stipulate that the transplant of human organ from one individual to another is permitted with a premeditated intent to ensure the survival of the recipient. The procedure is to be completed without any financial benefit to the donor or burden on the recipient. The sale, purchase or remunerated donation of human organs is therefore, generally prohibited.
Few countries including the Islamic Republic of Iran have constitutional provisions that regulate this modern phenomenon. It is important for lawmakers in Nigeria to start thinking of fashioning out laws that would regulate the entire issue of organ donation and trafficking before Nigerians (who are ready to do anything to get money) turn it in to a money-spinning industry. And as Nigerians are known to have “black markets” for many commodities including petrol, foreign currencies, etc; we should not be surprised (if we fail to control this new trend) to hear that “black markets” for the sale or purchase of human organs exist in parts of the country.
Sulaiman’s instance, whether we admit it or not, reveals the truth about poverty and unemployment as two critical challenges confronting Nigerians. Government over the years has failed to provide effective initiatives that would alleviate these two socio-economic challenges. Unless government tackles poverty and unemployment with apt political will and commitment as recommended by the Sheikh Ahmed Lemu-led Presidential Panel on Post-Election Violence, scenarios that are not only more disturbing than insurgency but also more weird than the vending of human organs would continue  to emerge. Our leaders especially northern governors should know that their lip-service to poverty alleviation programmes will continue to deepen the crisis and people’s resentment against them, which in the end may consume everyone (Allah forbids): political masterminds of bad governance as well as victims of leaders’ insensitivity.  May Allah (SWT) guide us to resist the temptations of deprivation, amin.