Praise be to Allah.
The Council of Senior Scholars has issued the following statement:
- Firstly: It is permissible to remove the corneas from a person after his death has been confirmed, and to implant them in the eye of a Muslim person who needs them, if it is thought most likely that the operation will be successful, and so long as the next of kin (of the deceased) do not object.
This is based on the principle of serving the greater of two interests and doing the lesser of two harms, and of giving precedence to the interests of the living over the interests of the dead. There is the hope that the living will be able to see again after having lost his sight, and that this will benefit him and he will benefit the Ummah in turn.
The deceased person from whom the cornea is taken does not lose anything, because his eyes will turn to dust anyways. Removing the cornea from his eyes is not a visible mutilation of his body, because his eyes will be closed.
- Secondly: It is also permissible to remove a sound cornea from a sound eyeball that has been removed from a person to protect him against some danger that may result from leaving it in place, and to transplant it into the eye of another Muslim who needs it, if removing it is in the interests of the health of the original owner and transplanting it to another person will not cause him any harm and will benefit the other person. All of that is permitted in Shari`ah.
And Allah is the Source of strength.
For more details, please refer to the following answers: 107690 , 2117 , 2141 , 49711 , and 2159 .
And Allah knows best.
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