Muslim Religious Scholars on the Commodification of Human Body and its Dignity in the Age of Biomedical Revolution

God, the Almighty has bestowed humans with special dignity, an essence that makes human unique and different from God’s other creatures and it entitles humans to certain rights and obligations. The concept of human dignity provides members of human species with a sense of esteem that lets them respect each other and it creates certain forms of mutual relationship and harmony among humans. The same concept also generates rulings and regulations to, e.g., make sure that the integrity of human body remains intact The Dignity of Human Body (DoHB) can, however, be compromised in specific contexts like medical treatments as long as such treatments do not result in greater harms. The advanced biomedical technologies further added to the demands of human organs owing to accessible penetration to the human body, making organs valuable even monetarily. While the premodern Muslim scholars could not think of serious benefits from the organs, contemporary scholars, thanks to the modern biomedical revolution, had to revisit the possibility of making use of the organs but faced serious challenges like the possible commodification of human organs. Against this background, this M.A. thesis aims at presenting an analytical and interdisciplinary study of Islamic bioethical discussions on the DoHB. The point is to examine how the concept of DoHB has been perceived throughout the history of the Islamic tradition and how far modern biomedical technologies could have an impact on certain aspects of this concept in various disciplines and branches of knowledge. Contemporary Muslim scholars prohibited commodification of organs either due to the very act of transferring those organs (organs with reproductive capacities), or due to the financial compensation involved (organs with vital functions). With regards to the body parts that are separable and renewable, some Muslim scholars tend to allow purchasing them with the condition of having real benefit with, no greater harm.