Daily Times

Sir: Recently, the chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), Maulana Sherani, was speaking at a seminar organised by the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) at Karachi University wherein a number of prominent Muslim scholars participated to discuss and explore religious viewpoints on organ transplantation.
Though most of the scholars representing different sects and schools of thought were in favour of the notion that saving a human life was far more important than anything else, Maulana Sherani threw a spanner in the debate by questioning how the organ of a non-Muslim could be transplanted into a Muslim and vice versa. He was worried about the punishment of the donated organs on the Day of Judgment. If a Muslim receives the organ of a non-Muslim, why should the Muslim person’s body be punished for the wrongdoings of a non-Muslim organ? In fact, he was of the view that organs of non-Muslims would be punished in any case, even if they had not done anything wrong.
I believe that is quite enough to feel disgusted towards the mentality of those who are running the CII. The CII is not new in inciting such controversies; perhaps it just wants to remain in the limelight of the media. Not long ago, the CII insisted upon the eyewitness testimony of four male Muslims as primary evidence to prove a rape case. Earlier, the CII pressed a decree to marry off girls in their childhoods. The list of such recommendations goes on.
Is it not time to review what these people are doing with taxpayers’ money in the name of Islam? Is it not better to remove the word Islamic from the council’s nomenclature? Regardless of Maulana Sherani’s ranting at the seminar, I am sure he will never question the origin of the donated organ if it is ever required to save his own life!
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail
Saudi Arabia