The Ownership of Human Body: An Islamic Perspective

Using human dead body for medical purposes is a common practice in medical schoolsand hospitals throughout the world. iran, as an islamic country is not an exception.according to the islamic view, the body, like the soul, is a gift from god; therefore,human being does not possess absolute ownership on his or her body. but, the ownershipof human beings on their bodies can be described as a kind of stewardship. accordingly,any kind of dissection or mutilation of the corpse is forbidden, even with the informedconsent of the dead or his/her relatives. the exception of this principle is when suchprocedures are necessary for saving lives of other persons. in this article using the humandead body for medical education, research and treatment is discussed and theperspective of iranian shiite religious scholars in this regard is explained.