Postmortem
Q462 :According to Islam, the bodies of dead people
must be buried. Doctors, however, prefer to take the dead bodies to the
anatomy department in a medical college where students can learn about
the various parts of the body. Please comment.
A462 : A postmortem is permissible if it is
conducted for the right purpose. We can say that determining the cause
of death, either when a crime is suspected or to enable medical
students and their teachers to learn about the effects of certain
diseases, is a legitimate purpose to carry out a postmortem. Many
people are under the impression that postmortems are forbidden in
Islam. It is certainly forbidden to show disrespect or to assault the
dead body of any person. Islam forbids the disfigurement of enemy
soldiers in battle. It would certainly not allow the cutting up of dead
bodies for idle play. A legitimate purpose, however, is different. If a
medical purpose is not legitimate, what is?
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News - Jeddah )