The Grand Ayatollah Sistani Fatwas About “Medical Issues”

Question: If a Muslim knows that contracted AIDS, is it permissible for him to engage in sexual relations with his wife? Is it obligatory for him to inform his wife about it?

Question 2: What is the virus on considering AIDS as terminal illness?

Question 3: What is the ruling on the custody of an infected mother with regard to her non-infected baby and also on breast-feeding?

Question 4: What is the ruling on abortion for a pregnant woman who is infected with AIDS?

Question 5: What is the ruling concerning the right of the non-infected spouse in seeking separation?

Question 6: What is the ruling on the sexual relations of an AIDS patient? Is it permissible for a non-infected person to refuse sexual relation with their spouse because sexual intercourse is one of the main ways of transmitting the virus?

Question 7: What is the ruling on marriage between two people who are carriers of the AIDS virus?

Question 8: Is it permissible for a person infected with AIDS to marry a person who is free from it?

Question 9: What is the rule on intentionally infecting others with the AIDS virus?

Question 10: What is the rule concerning isolating an AIDS patient? Is it obligatory on him to isolate himself? Is it obligatory on his family to isolate him [from the public]?

Question 11: Is it permissible to engage in embellishing the face and the body [of another person]?

Question 12: In the process of fertilization in a lab, more than one ovum is fertilized at a time. Secured in the knowledge that implanting all fertilized ova in the mother’s womb will endanger her life. Is it permissible for us to use only one fertilized ovum and destroy the remaining ones?

Question 13: There are certain hereditary diseases that are transferred from parents to children and pose a danger to their lives in the future. Modern science has acquired the means of preventing some of such diseases by fertilizing the woman’s ovum in a test tube and examining the genes to eliminate the problematic ones. Then it is returned the woman’s womb. The remaining genes [i.e., ova] are destroyed. Is this religiously permissible?

Question 14: Is the process of test-tube babies allowed? In the sense that the wife’s ovum and the husband’s sperm are extracted to be fertilized outside the body, and then placed in the womb [of the wife].

Question 15: Is it permissible to transplant the liver of pig in a human’s body?

Question 16: Insulin used for treatment of diabetics is sometimes extracted from the pancreas of pigs. Can we use it?

Question 17: If an organ of an atheist is transplanted in a Muslim’s body, would it be considered ritually pure (Tãhir) when it is considered, after transplantation, as part of the Muslim’s body?

Question 18: In certain cases, some governmental agencies demand that autopsy be performed on the body of the deceased to establish the cause of death. When is it permissible to agree to their demand and when is it not?

Question 19: Pharmaceutical companies in the West run tests on the drugs they manufacture before selling them in the market. Is it permissible for a doctor to use a drug on his patient —without the knowledge of the patient— before its testing period is over thinking that that particular drug would cure the disease?

Question 20: The medical profession demands that the doctor checks his female patients carefully; and since getting undressed for medical check up is common in some European countries, is it permissible to engage in medical practice here in such circumstances?

Question 21: Some people believe that a brain-dead person is a dead person, even if the heart has not yet stopped and that it will definitely stop after that. This is what the doctors say. Is a person who has been pronounced brain-dead be considered dead, even if his heart is still working?

Question 22: The serious harm of narcotic drugs to the user or society in general (whether from being addicted to them or other [societal, familial, and ethical] reems) is well known. Therefore, the doctors and health care professionals are strongly opposing the misuse of drugs and the laws governing the society is also strongly against it. So, what is the view of the noble Sharia on this matter?