By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net,
Dr.Malih Ahmed Siddiqui, Consultant Physician at newly constructed Kohinoor Hospital, held an awareness and educative programme among Muslims especially for Madarsah students, inspiring them to donate blood. Rehan Ansari of TwoCircles.net caught up with him on Blood donation and Muslims.
Why did you held blood donation awareness programme among Muslims?
Blood donations are a scientifically validated and extremely important modality of treatment today and with recent scientific advances extremely safe as well. There are many misconceptions in the Muslim Community related to blood donations and transfusions, some religious and some health related because of which there is an avoidance mentality when it comes to donating blood. However, when it comes to receiving blood, many Muslims accept it with alacrity. The ratio of voluntary donors in the Muslim community is less than 1%.
Why does the community avoid donating blood?
In general, Muslims know that the Qur’an holds the human body to be sacred and does not allow its use for the benefit of another. Secondly, blood when it flows out of the human body is impure and taking benefit from something impure is not lawful. However, in dire circumstances when a human life hangs in the balance, Muslim scholars have allowed transfusions on the basis of the well known Islamic principle that ‘Necessity makes the unlawful lawful.’
Secondly, in taking blood from the body, there is no mutilation or destruction of body parts involved rather it is just like an injection. So the scholars have made blood transfusion and donation lawful in times of necessity if the following conditions are met:
a) The donor is mature and sane.
b) The donor willingly donates his blood. If he is compelled to do so, it will not be permissible.
c) There is no apparent risk to the life or health of the donor,
d) There is an absolute necessity in donating blood in that there is a definite risk to the life of a patient, and in the opinion of the medical expert, there is no other way of saving his/her life,
e) There is a need for it, that is, there is no risk to the life, but in the opinion of the experts, restoration of health may not be possible without it.
f) There is no alternative.
g) It is not for the sake of beautification or any other additional benefit.
h) Transfusion of blood must not be carried out by way of buying and selling, for trading in human parts is never permissible. However, if one is in need of blood desperately and the only means to obtain the blood is to purchase it, then only will it be permissible to pay for the blood.
is there any Fatwa against the blood donation or it’s just the perception?
I have not seen a fatwa against blood donation at times of need. Rather I have seen several fatawa by prominent scholars across the world in favor of transfusion and donation and these are available for viewing on the web as well. So I would say that it is false perception.
If only 4% Indian donates blood, then why blame the community?
I am not blaming the community, rather, we need to recognize this as a drawback and do something to counter it. After all blood cannot be produced artificially and needs to be donated. If we utilize this life-saving commodity, then is it not our duty to replace it? And even if 4% of Indians donate blood, we need to remember than less than 1% of Indian Muslims do so. So, we have a long way to go and the earlier we start, the better it is.
How can we improve the contribution by the community and what impact it can have?
The seminar that we held was an effort to create awareness in the community. We deliberately called students and teachers of local Madarsahs in Kurla in order to remove their misconceptions and inculcate in them the idea of blood donations. As a matter of fact, Mawlana Muhammad Zakariyya, Principal of Madrasah Anwaar al ‘Ulum, who spoke after me clearly said that all their doubts had been removed and if the need arose then the teachers and the students of the Madarsah were available for this great work. If a single seminar can have such an effect on people, then you can imagine what media reporting, articles in papers, group discussions and blood donation camps in the wider community can have, Inshallah.
People are also afraid of infectious disease and weakness.
In the lecture that we held, we informed the people about the steps taken to ensure that the blood was safe and free of infectious agents. With modern safeguards in place and the dying out of the professional blood donor system, it is practically impossible for contagious diseases to spread. Similarly, the concept of weakness after blood donation is a myth with no basis in fact. The human body contains approximately 5 liters of blood and removing less than half a liter in a patient with hemoglobin of more than 12 is unlikely to cause any kind of weakness.
There is also disbelief among Muslims about the blood transfusion from a Disbeliever. Is it allowed?
Yes its allowed unanimously there is no difference in it for example on Fatwaislam.com it answered as “Blood donated to the Muslims is allowed, whether the donor was a Muslim or a disbeliever – whether from the People of the Book, or an idol-worshipper – as long as no harm will result in the recipient and he is in need of it.”