Campaigning for Organ Donation at Mosques

Abstract

There is a trend of recruiting faith leaders at mosques to overcome religious barriers to organ donation, and to increase donor registration among Muslims. Commentators have suggested that Muslims are not given enough information about organ donation in religious sermons or lectures delivered at mosques. Corrective actions have been recommended, such as funding campaigns to promote organ donation, and increasing the availability of organ donation information at mosques. These actions are recommended despite published literature expressing safety concerns (i.e., do no harm) in living and end-of-life organ donation. Living donors require life-long medical follow-up and treatment for complications that can appear years later. Scientific and medical controversies persist regarding the international guidelines for death determination in end-of-life donation. The medical criteria of death lack validation and can harm donors if surgical procurement is performed without general anesthesia and before biological death. In the moral code of Islam, the prevention of harm holds precedence over beneficence. Moral precepts described in the Quran encourage Muslims to be beneficent, but also to seek knowledge prior to making practical decisions. However, the Quran also contains passages that demand honesty and truthfulness when providing information to those who are seeking knowledge. Currently, information is limited to that which encourages donor registration. Campaigning for organ donation to congregations in mosques should adhere to the moral code of complete, rather than selective, disclosure of information. We recommend as a minimal standard the disclosure of risks, uncertainties, and controversies associated with the organ donation process.

Organ donation and transplant: The Islamic perspective

“…This suggests that effective communication of Islamic rulings to the Muslim community may help shape positive attitudes toward donation. However, the lack of knowledge of up‐to‐date medical information regarding organ donation among Muslim faith leaders and its appropriate communication to the community can impact the common outlook toward organ donation . The decision to donate is not one that Muslims make on their own; rather, they take into consideration the needs and opinions of others including family and religious leaders .…”

Untitled

“…The recommended actions are funding campaigns to promote organ donation and increasing the availability of organ donation information at mosques. 22 Furthermore there is a need to conduct proper epidemiologic studies on chronic kidney disease in the Arab world and also to stress the importance of prevention measures against chronic kidney disease. 23 …”

The Development and Validation of the Islamic Knowledge of Living Organ Donation Knowledge Scale for Measuring Organ Donation Knowledge Among Muslim Communities

“…10 The impact of such interventions is understudied, with some scholars suggesting that these efforts may be ineffectual due to theoretical oversights, ethical misgivings, and poor implementation. [11][12][13] Critically, a measurement instrument assessing Islamic knowledge of organ donation, and thereby the efficacy of such educational interventions and campaigns, is not yet available.…”