XENOTRANSPLANTATION: MEDICAL AND ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Allah create Man and all living creatures with their respective unique complexities. Sicknesses and Diseases are part and parcel of their existence. Man is the only species who has the intelligence and creativity to develop the system of knowledge and interventions to reverse the problems that come from the Sicknesses or Diseases. Allotransplantation (AT), the transplantation of human organ from one human to another human, is one of the major breakthroughs in medical sciences and therapeutics in the medical history. In the past, patients with major Organ Failures are expected to suffer and die shortly. AT gives them a ‘second life’ with much improvements in their quality of life and survival. Like all medical treatments, AT has its own set of medical and bioethical problems e.g. side effects from immunosuppression that is necessary to ensure engraftment and better graft survival. In addition, the growing demand for human organs has exceeded the supply enormously. Human Organ Shortages in developed and developing countries create long waiting lists, unwanted exclusions, human organ trafficking and related crimes. For Muslims, there are even more bioethical controversies e.g. the process of AT, procurement of human organs from cadavers or living persons, defining brain death for vital organ harvesting, forceful ‘donation’ in under-privileged Muslim populations. Porcine Xenotransplantation (PXT), the transplant of porcine organs to human recipients, can solve most of the problems from Human Organ Shortages. This also has the potential of revamping the entire process of AT. Being Porcine in origin like pork, the Porcine Organs could be prohibited for Muslims. However, PXT could be the preferred option in Organ Transplantation (OT) because this can avoid the Islamic controversies in mutilation of the dignified human body, defining brain death for procurement of vital organs, unethical and illegal exploitation of the economically deprived Muslims etc. This research traces the development and application of Islamic Bioethics (IBE) from contemporary period to Modern Times, the role of Islamic Thought in IBE, and analyses the available relieves, istihalah (transformation), ?ar?rah (dire necessity) and ma?lah?h (public interests), to reverse the prohibition under the Shari’ah laws and obligations. The most up-to- date data on PXT and prospects for successful PXT are then reviewed. These are combined to establish the requirements for permissibility of Porcine tissues, cells and organs in Porcine therapeutics and PXT from the Medical and Islamic Perspectives.