Islamic jurisprudence, based on a convincing
interpretation of the holy Koran, does not recognize a
person’s right to die voluntarily. The Islamic arguments
against euthanasia can be summarized in two main
reasons: 1-Life is sacred and euthanasia and suicide are
not included among the reasons allowed for killing in
Islam. And 2-Allah decides how long each of us will
live and two verses support this reason.
According to Islamic teachings, life is a divine trust
and can not be terminated by any form of active or
passive voluntary intervention.11 All the Islamic
scholars regard active euthanasia as forbidden (Hiram)
and there is no difference between Sunni and Shiite
schools.
The moment of death, ajal, is under the control of
Allah and the human has no say in this matter; the
human can not and should not attempt to hasten or
delay the ajal. The prohibition on life applies equally
well whether for self, suicide, or others, homicide or
genocide. The concepts of autonomy, freedom and
individual choice does not apply here for these two
reasons: a. life does not belong to the human; and b.
taking life will cause harm to the family and society in
general. An individual's freedom of choice is
constrained by the harm it causes to others.
Justifying the stance of advocates of euthanasia on
the basis of other factors such as economic concerns,
consideration of resources that could otherwise be
utilized by other patients and death with dignity does
not seem plausible because of crime nature of mercy
killing in Islamic point of view.3 Of course, we have to
exclude the situation in which the life support
equipments are switched off from a brain-dead person,
aimed to use them for saving the life of a live person.
As a conclusion we can say that the Islamic position
is that life belongs to Allah. It is He who gives and
takes away life. No human can give or take it. Muslims
are against euthanasia. They believe that all human life
is sacred because it is given by Allah, and that Allah
chooses how long each person will live. Human beings
should not interfere in this.
There are two instances, however, that could be
interpreted as passive assistance in allowing a
terminally ill patient to die and would be permissible
by Islamic law: Administering analgesic agents that
might shorten the patient’s life, with the purpose of
relieving the physical pain or mental distress, and
withdrawing a futile treatment in the basis of informed
consent (of the immediate family members who act on
the professional advice of the physicians in charge of
the case) allowing death to take its natural course.11
If a patient is medically presumed dead through
what is known as brain death, switching off the life
support may be permissible, with due consultation and
care, especially when it is clear that the life support
machine becomes of no use for the already-dead patient
or in the case of organ and tissue donation for saving
another persons’ life which is a routine practice in Iran
and some other Muslim countries. Regarding end-stage
dementic patients, they should be considered as
completely human being and according to Islamic teachings; their life is scared and should not be taken.
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