On 26th March 2018, a medical team of nine plastic\nsurgeons and two urological surgeons at the Johns Hopkins Medicine performed\nthe first total penile and scrotum transplant in the world. The procedure\ninvolved transplanting the entire penis, scrotum (without testicles) and\npartial abdominal wall from a deceased donor to a veteran who was wounded in\nAfghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The transplant was conducted to replace his penis and\nscrotum that were blasted by an explosion after he accidentally stepped on an\nimprovised explosive device hidden on the road during his patrol in 2010. After\na year following the surgery, around November 2019, the transplanted penis was\nreported to be functioning as being expected, showing that it was a successful\nprocedure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Penile transplant is a type of reproductive organ\ndonation. Reproductive organ donation, in general, may involve transplanting\nreproductive organs from males such as penis, scrotum, testes, and vas\ndeferens, and reproductive organs from females including the vagina, fallopian\ntubes, ovary, and uterus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reproductive organ donation is expected to solve\nsexual and fertility problems. However, it also raises some ethical and moral\nconcerns especially from the perspective of certain religions and cultures.\nIslam, for instance, has a firm stance when it concerns genital matters and\norgan donations in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Organ donation is a controversial topic in the Islamic\nfraternity. Islamic scholars strived in research to come up with a ruling that is\ncompatible with Islamic principles. Although there is disagreement regarding the\nruling of organ donation among scholars, most contemporary rulings either local\nor international are inclined towards allowing organ donations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The permissibility of organ donation is based on\ncertain principles. One of which is the removal of harms. There two types of\norgan donation: (1) donation from living individuals, and (2) donation from the\ndead. Donations from living individuals are limited to certain types of organs\nsuch as parts of the liver and one of the kidneys. In Malaysia, such type of donation\nonly involves close relatives. Donations from dead donors involve more diverse\ntypes of organs and tissues including the heart, lung, cornea, skin and heart\nvalves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both types of donations are permissible based on the\nprinciple of removing harms because donating organs or parts of organs saves\nthe life of a person who is suffering from the end-stage of organ failure. Indeed,\nprotecting life is important as it is one of the higher objectives of the shari\u2018ah<\/em>.\nFor example, in the case of a person suffering from liver failure, donating\npart of the liver may save him. Although it poses some risks upon the donor due\nto surgery, the risk is very much lower than the risk of death faced by the\nliver failure person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organ donations are performed with\nthe intention of saving lives. Such an intention justifies the permissibility\nof organ donations. This is based on the principle in Islam known as \u201cactions\nare judged by intentions.\u201d Donating organs with the intention of saving is\npermissible and considered as a form of charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However,\norgan donation is permissible under certain conditions, such as: (1) it is done\nonly to save lives with the absence of alternative means, (2) in the case of\ndonations from the deceased, their cadavers must be handled with dignity, and\n(3) donations from the living do not cause him\/her substantial damage such as\npermanent disability or death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore,\nthe question arises whether reproductive organ donation holds the same\nargument. To better understand this issue, the Islamic perspective on reproductive\norgan donation must be looked at from various angles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Firstly, it must be noted that Islam puts great\nemphasis on protecting and preserving lineage. \nOrgans such as ovaries and testicles contain genetic information from\nthe donor, thus, transplanting it to the recipient leads to confusion regarding\nthe lineage of offsprings. The confusion of lineage complicates a number of\nmatters including inheritance, marriage, and guardianship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Secondly, donating genitals such as the penis is strictly\nprohibited because it is considered as changing the creation of God. Changing\nthe creation of God in this sense is related to the act of castrating the\ngenital of the donor in order to be transplanted to the recipient. Castrating\ngenitals is prohibited by Prophet Muhammad. Furthermore, in the context of\ndonation, it causes permanent damage to the donor which violates one of the\nIslamic conditions in permitting organ donation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thirdly,\ngenitals such as the penis are the private parts of a person whose right to see\nand touch is his alone even until death. Performing transplants that involve\nthe private part is a form of humiliation towards both the donor and recipient.\nHence, Islam prohibits the donation and transplant of genitals such as the\npenis because it is disrespectful to the dignity of the donor and recipient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As an\noverall argument, it is important to note that in Islam, typical organ donation\nis only permitted due to the profound necessity to save lives. Indeed, many\nlives depend on organ donations. Reproductive organ donations, on the other\nhand, does not constitute a necessity. Although it is performed with the aim at\nproducing offsprings, it is not a form of a life-saving treatment.\nAdditionally, producing offsprings is a form of supplementary (takmiliyyah<\/em>) rather than a necessity (daruriyyah<\/em>). Indeed, Islam draws a clear\nline between what is considered necessary and not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On 26th March 2018, a medical team of nine plastic surgeons and two urological surgeons at the Johns Hopkins Medicine performed the first total penile and scrotum transplant in the world. The procedure involved transplanting the entire penis, scrotum (without testicles) and partial abdominal wall from a deceased donor to a veteran who was wounded…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-straits-times","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}