Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

are muslims allowed to go into autopsies as a career? could i please have some evidence of where it says this. 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Autopsy career permissible

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

The performance of autopsies, whereby one trained in the sciences of medical knowledge performs a post-mortem on a dead body to determine one’s cause of death, is obviously a new development which was initiated long after the Quran was revealed and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws) established; thus it is not possible for one to present evidence for this particular art or science from the Quran or the Sunnah.

In such cases of new development from the knowledge acquired by the experiences or technological advances of man, it becomes the responsibility of the jurists and scholars in Islam to derive and come to a ruling regarding its permissibility/ impermissiblity in light of the guidance of the Quran and the Sunnah.

The majority of the scholars in Islam are almost unanimous in their opinion that to perform an autopsy or post-mortem on someone for a genuine cause, so that it would help mankind determine accurately what exactly instigated the person’s death like whether one died of natural causes, or one committed suicide, or one was murdered, etc. so that further studies may be done to improve the life of man or justice may be served, are all good causes which help humanity; and anything that helps life and humanity cannot be impermissible in the deen of Truth called Islam.

In light of the view of the jurists and scholars of Islam, there is absolutely no harm if a believer wishes to follow a career which would enable him to gain the required knowledge to perform autopsies for the betterment and service of humanity.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan