Giving the body of a Muslim to the Red Cross

22-3-2005 | IslamWeb

Question:

Can giving the body of a Muslim to the Red Cross?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

When a Muslim dies, Muslims have to honour him by washing him, enshrouding him, praying on him and burying him, and it is forbidden to cut his body or disfigure it and the like. Giving the Muslim corpse to the Red Cross for autopsy or other purposes is not permissible. It is known that it is forbidden to give the corpse of a Muslim to a non-Muslim to bury him and enshroud him and so forth, and other honourable acts that the dead Muslim deserves. So one cannot give the corpse of a Muslim to a non-Muslim for autopsy or other misuse and the things which a Muslim should be protected from.

Allaah knows best.