Islam and the Quran

lives. The Prophet explained to Umar that we must be satisfied with what fulfils our need. Kings and emperors are concerned about living in luxury, but for the Prophet whatever fulfilled his need was enough. In today’s age, several things have become our need, such as a phone for communication and other gadgets to get our work done. All these are classified as needs and Islam does not prohibit acquiring them. Also, the definition of ‘need’ may vary. Something that may be the need of one may not be the need of another. So, there could never be a universal yardstick defining ‘need’; a conscientious individual is the best judge of his needs and well understands when it becomes greed. Does Islam support the concept of organ donation after death? Yes, undoubtedly Islam supports donation of organs after death. This is because there is a concept in Islam, called sadqah-e-jariyah, which means continued charity or on-going charity – this is charity which comes to benefit people even after the person who made the donation has passed away. Other examples of this form of charity may be to open a school which continues to benefit people after one’s death, or planting of a tree, the shade of which may be used by travellers in future. Moreover, the fact that our body accepts organs from another’s body is because our body has been naturally made in this way. That is, it is a natural law. If organ donation was unnatural then it would not have been possible for us to donate in the first place. If God has made our body in this way – that is, it can accept organs from others, then it means that it is part of God’s will that one person should donate to another. Hence, there is no question of lawful