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When Can You Pull the Plug on Life Support?

12 September, 2022
Q In our religion, it is encouraged and sometimes required to get medical help whenever one is sick. At times, a person can become extremely ill to the extent where they are on life support. When do we know there is no hope? How can we determine that there is no turning back?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.


In this fatwa:

You need to bring in one or two and actually preferably two or three Muslim doctors as well as scholars to analyze the particular situation of that person. If there is hope in that person being cured,  then you make every effort.

However, if the prolonging is only delaying the inevitable or what seems to be the inevitable from an expert perspective, then you are not obligated to keep the plug of life support and you can pull it.

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Watch this video by Sheikh Omar Suleiman to learn more:  

Almighty Allah knows best.

Source: FaithIQ       

About Omar Suleiman
Imam Omar Suleiman is the President of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research and a professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University. He’s also the resident scholar of the Valley Ranch Islamic Center and Co-Chair of Faith Forward Dallas at Thanks-Giving Square, a multi-faith alliance for peace and justice.