Bioethical Issue: Euthanasia

Euthanasia is the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her
alleged benefit. (The key word here is "intentional". If death is not intended, it is not an act of
euthanasia).
Types of Euthanasia:
Voluntary euthanasia: When the person who is killed has requested to be killed.
Non-voluntary euthanasia: The killing of patients who are unable to give consent to be killed
(perhaps because they are unconscious).
Involuntary euthanasia: When the person who is killed gave no consent to be killed.
Assisted suicide: Someone provides an individual with the information, guidance, and means to
take his or her own life with the intention that they will be used for this purpose.
Passive euthanasia: The withholding of common treatments (such as antibiotics, pain medications,
or surgery) or the distribution of a medication (such as morphine) to relieve pain, knowing that it
may also result in death. Passive euthanasia is the most accepted form, and it is a common
practice in most hospitals.
The Muslim Response

There are various types of euthanasia and each type has its own ruling. However, all Muslim scholars
agree that killing a person to reduce their pain or suffering from sickness is not allowed in Islam.
Euthanasia shows a lack of trust in Allah and his plan for every member of his creation. In Islam, a
person does not have the right to end his or her life, since God has entrusted life to him or her for a
temporary period. Only God owns the life and therefore has the sole right to end life.
Human beings are the crown of creation - life is to be protected and promoted as much as possible.
People, when they are ill, have a duty to seek treatment. It is the duty of doctors and relatives to take
care of the sick and to do their best to reduce the pain and suffering of the sick. It is, however, a sin to
take a human life and Islam encourages people to strive to save the life of another.
If, however, a number of medical experts determine that a patient is in a terminal condition and there
is no hope for his/her recovery, then it could be permissible for them to stop the medication. If the
patient is on life support, it may be permissible, with due consultation and care, to decide to switch off
the life support machine and let the nature take its own time. Under no condition, however, it is
permissible to induce death to a patient.
Illness may be perceived as a trial or even a cleansing ordeal, but not as a punishment or curse.
Islam considers suffering and illness as an opportunity to compensate for ones past sins or to rise to
higher ranks of spirituality in the Court of God. Although it might be a painful experience, there is the
promise of great reward in the hereafter. Prophet Muhammad said, the sins of a person fall like
leaves off a tree if a person endures suffering in sickness.
Responding to the question, Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, President of the Fiqh Council of North America,
states the following: Islam considers human life sacred. Life is to be protected and promoted as much
as possible. It is neither permissible in Islam to kill another human being, nor even to kill one's own
self (suicide). Killing is allowed only in a declared just war situation when the enemy comes to attack,
then killing of the enemy is allowed for self-defense. The court of law may pass a death sentence
against a person as a punishment for some crimes such as premeditated murder or other serious
crimes. However, there is no provision in Islam for killing a person to reduce his pain or suffering from
sickness.

Quotes:
Who say, when afflicted with calamity: "To Allah We belong, and to Him is our return.(Quran 2:156)
And no person can ever die except by Allah's leave and at an appointed term. (Quran 3:145)
It is Allah that gives Life and Death, and Allah sees well all that you do.(Quran 3:156)
If anyone kills a person it would be as if he killed the whole people: and if anyone saved a life, it
would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. (Quran 5:32)
When their time comes they cannot delay it for a single hour nor can they bring it forward by a single
hour. (Quran 16:6)
Nor take life, which God has made sacred. (Quran 17:33)
Who gives me food and drink. And when I am ill it is He Who cures me. (Quran 26:79-80)
When Allah desires good for one of His servants, he visits him with a calamity in this world. (Hadith)
Allah allows a believer to shed his sins through every disaster visited on him, even if it is being
pricked by a thorn. (Hadith)
As ripe fruits fall as a tree is shaken, so the sins of a believer fall away on his shaking with illness.
(Bukhari, Muslim)
Those afflicted with the severest trials are the prophets, then the saints and those like them. (Ibn
Maja, Musnad)