The Islamic faith values any means to save a human life and condemns the termination of a human life without just cause: “And kill not anyone whom God has forbidden, except for a just cause (according to Islamic law).” The idea that brain death represents true death in Islam remains a subject of debate. Brain death has been acknowledged as representing true death by many Muslim scholars and medical organizations, including the Islamic Fiqh Academies (IFAs) of the Organization of the Islamic Countries (OICs), and considered as legal rulings by multiple Islamic nations. The Islamic Fiqh Council of Islamic World League held in Makkah Al Mukarramah (December 1987), did not equate cardiac death with brain death. Although it did not recognize brain death as death, it did sanction all the previous fatwas on organ transplantation. However, consensus in the Muslim world is not unanimous, and an appreciable minority accepts death by cardiopulmonary criteria only. Although guidelines are available in many countries to standardize national processes for the diagnosis of brain death, the current variation and inconsistency in practice make it imperative that an international consensus is developed.

Following the established guidelines scrupulously can maintain the foundation of a transplantation system that saves thousands of lives a year. A confirmatory test is mandatory to establish the absence of blood flow to the brain by cerebral angiography or CT angiogram or MRI angiogram or Doppler. Strict adherence to the principle of “total cessation of cerebral functions is the criteria” will establish the diagnosis of brain death.