Is it permissible to donate blood?

Islam encourages mutual assistance and saving others. Donating blood can help save a patient’s life. For this reason, the majority of contemporary scholars permit blood donation. They say that a person who does this is as if they have saved all of humanity from death [1].

Allah the Almighty says in the Qur’an:

وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا

“Whoever saves a life, it is as if he has saved all of mankind.” [2]

However, the following conditions must be met:

• There must be a real necessity; that is, there is no pure alternative to blood, and qualified medical professionals have determined that transfusion is the only way to save the patient’s life.

• The donor’s health must not be harmed in any way.

• The donor must give blood willingly and with consent.

• The transfusion process must be supervised by knowledgeable and qualified doctors [3].

Department of Sharia and Fatwa, Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan

[1] Al-Mawsu‘ah al-Muyassarah fi Fiqh al-Qadaya al-Mu‘asirah, pp. 541-542.

[2] Al-Ma’idah, 32.

[3] Ali Muhyiddin al-Qaradaghi, Fiqh al-Qadaya al-Tibbiyyah al-Mu‘asirah, p. 547.