English - Ma'ariful Qur'an - Mufti Shafi Usmani RA - Vol - 1
Surah Al-Baqarah - 2 : Verses 172 - 173

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Blood Transfusion

Actually, human blood is a part of human body. When taken out of the body, it is rated as najis or 'impure', which would require that transfusion of blood from one human body to another be regarded as haram for two reasons:

1. Since respecting the human body is necessary and this act is contrary to that respect.

2. Blood is heavy impurity (al-najasah al-ghalizah) and the use of things impure is not permissible.

But, looking into the conveniences allowed by the Shari'ah of Islam under conditions of compulsion and in general treatment of diseases, we come to the following conclusions:

To begin with, blood is no doubt a part of the human body but its transfusion into the body of another person requires no surgery. Blood is drawn out by means of a syringe from one human body and transferred to another by the same process. Therefore, it is like milk which forms in the human body and goes on to become the part of another human being. The Shari'ah of Islam, in view of the need of the human child, has made nothing but milk as his or her initial food, making it obligatory on mothers to feed their children as far as they stay married to their respective husbands. After divorce, mothers cannot be forced to feed their children. To provide sustenance to children is the responsibility of the father; it is he who must arrange to have the child suckled by a wet-nurse, or request the mother to continue feeding the baby against payment. The Holy Qur'an is very clear on this subject when it says:

"If they (your divorced wives) suckle (your children) for you, then, pay for their services." (65:6)

In short, milk which is a part of the human body has still been made permissible for children in view of their need. It is even permissible to use it medically for elders as well. It appears in 'Alamgiriah:

"There is no harm if female milk is dropped in the nose of a man to cure him of some disease, or even if it is given orally as medicine." (For further details on this subject see Al-Mughni by ibn Qudamah, Kitab al-Sayd, volume 8, page 602.)

If blood is dealt with on the analogy of milk, the analogy would not be too far-fetched, since milk is also an altered form of blood and shares with it the common factor of being a part of the human person. The only difference between them is that milk is clean while blood is not. So, the first reason of unlawfulness, that is, being a part of human body, is no more operative here. What remains is the aspect of its impurity. In this case too, some fuqaha' have permitted the use of blood on medical grounds.

Therefore, the correct position is that the transfer of human blood to another body does not seem to be permissible in Shari'ah under normal conditions, but doing so under compulsive conditions on medical grounds is doubtlessly permissible. Compulsive conditions mean that the patient faces a life or death situation and no life-saving drug turns out to be effective or is just not available and there is a strong likelihood that the patient's life would be saved through the blood transfusion. If these conditions are met, giving of blood will be permissible under the authority of this Qur'anic text which clearly permits the saving of one's life by eating the flesh of a dead animal, if compelled by necessity. However, in the event that there be no condition of compulsion or other medicines and treatments could work, the problem has been dealt with differently by different jurists; some say that it is permissible while others maintain that it is not. Details are available in books of fiqh. Those interested in the subject may wish to see my Urdu treatise entitled, 'The Transplanting of Human Limbs'.