It is the first question most families in Pakistan ask, and it is asked quietly, usually after a funeral. Is eye donation in Islam permitted, or is it something a Muslim should not do? This page does not answer that question with a ruling of its own. PEBS is a hospital and an eye bank, not a house of fatwa. What it can do is report accurately what a named Pakistani authority has been reported to say about eye donation in Islam, and point you toward the person who should give you your own answer.
What the Council of Islamic Ideology said
On 1 July 2026, The News reported the outcome of a meeting of Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology, chaired by Allama Dr Muhammad Raghib Hussain Naeemi. The report, filed by Rana Ghulam Qadir, records that the council reviewed several matters that day, including a court judgment and a family law bill, and that on the medical question it reached the following position.
In the words of the report, Keeping medical necessity in view, the council declared that the donation and transplantation of the human cornea are permissible under the Islamic law, subject to specific conditions and safeguards.
That sentence is quoted from The News, 1 July 2026.
That is what the report says, quoted as it was written. PEBS is not adding to it, softening it or extending it, and PEBS is not announcing a ruling of its own.
One point about the council itself, because it changes how the sentence should be read. The Council of Islamic Ideology is constituted under Article 228 of the Constitution of Pakistan, and Article 230 sets out what it does. It makes recommendations to Parliament and the Provincial Assemblies, and it advises them on whether a proposed law is repugnant to the Injunctions of Islam. It is an advisory and law reform body. It does not issue fatwas, and what it says is not a binding ruling on any individual’s case.
Not every Pakistani scholar agrees, and some darul iftas take a more restrictive view. This page reports only the positions we could verify in named national reporting, and it is not a survey of the field. The largest darul iftas in Karachi are not among the sources below, and their positions on organ donation and on brain death are not reported here because we have not read them in a source we could verify.
Read the wording carefully
Three parts of that sentence carry weight, and it would be dishonest to quote the permission and drop the rest.
The first is the phrase keeping medical necessity in view. The council’s position is framed around genuine medical need, not around convenience.
The second is the word cornea. The council addressed the donation and transplantation of the human cornea. It is not for a hospital’s blog to stretch that into a general statement about every organ, and this page does not.
The third is the closing phrase, subject to specific conditions and safeguards. Any honest account of this decision carries that clause with it every single time. A permission with conditions is not the same thing as a permission without them.
One further point of accuracy. This position is reported here through named Pakistani journalism, because it is the record we were able to open and read. If your family wants the council’s own document, ask a scholar to obtain it rather than relying on any summary, including this one.
What scholars said at a seminar in Karachi
The council’s decision did not arrive out of nowhere. On 10 April 2025, Dawn reported on a seminar hosted by Dow University of Health Sciences in Karachi, in a report by Imtiaz Ali, where religious scholars and medical professionals signed a joint declaration on organ donation after death. Note the scope carefully. That seminar addressed organ donation after death broadly, not the cornea specifically.
According to that report, the declaration stated that donating organs after death, with proper consent and ethical compliance, is not only allowed but is also considered an act of sadaqah jariyah, meaning ongoing charity, in Islamic teachings.
The report attributes distinct positions to individual scholars, and they are worth reading as individual positions rather than as one voice.
Allama Raghib Hussain Naeemi, chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, said that brain death should be confirmed by doctors, and that once brain death is declared, donation can proceed with prior consent or the family’s approval.
Allama Muhammad Khan Sherani acknowledged that Islam permitted organ donation, but urged that the process be carried out with utmost caution given the ethical complexities involved, adding that honesty and fairness are critical in such sensitive matters.
Allama Shahenshah Naqvi emphasised that because Islam highly values the sanctity of life, donating organs to save life is permissible, provided that the donor is not harmed.
Mufti Ramzan Sialvi referred to the principle of choosing the lesser of two harms, and said donation was permissible if the dignity of the deceased is preserved.
Mufti Mazhar Fareed stressed the importance of the donor’s intention and the respectful handling of organs.
Those are five scholars with five carefully worded positions. Anyone who tells you the scholars simply agreed, with no conditions attached, has not read them.
One thing the brain death discussion does not touch
A corneal donation happens after death has already occurred. It involves no decision about life support and no doctor’s judgment about when to stop treatment. The scholars quoted above were addressing organ donation after brain death, which is a different medical situation from the one a cornea is recovered in. If the worry in your family is that a pledge gives a hospital some say over when treatment stops, it does not, and it cannot.
What none of this settles for you
A decision by a national body and a declaration at a university seminar are both real, and both reported. Neither of them is a substitute for the conversation you actually need to have.
Ask your own scholar. Bring the wording with you, including the conditions, and ask the question as it applies to your own family and your own situation. PEBS will not tell you that the matter is closed, because it is not our place to close it.
One certificate that is often misread
PEBS lists its registrations and credentials on the certifications page, and among them is a Sharia compliance certificate issued on 15 March 2025 by Mufti Liaquat Ahmad Asadi of Dara Madina-Ul-Uloom.
Please do not read that certificate as a ruling on eye donation, because it is not one. In the words of the page itself, it certifies that PEBS Hospital’s process of Zakat collection and spending on deserving patients is in accordance with Islamic Shariah. It is about money and how it is handled. It says nothing about donating a cornea, and presenting it as if it did would be a misuse of a scholar’s signature.
What PEBS actually does when you call
PEBS states on its eye donation page that pledging is simple and costs nothing, that you call the helpline or use the contact page, and that the team will record the pledge and answer questions, including religious and family concerns. That last part is not decoration. If the religious question is the one holding you back, it is the one to raise on the call.
If you want to understand what happens after a pledge becomes a donation, the Eye Bank and Cornea Lab page describes how donated corneas are received, evaluated and preserved, and then supplied to surgeons for sight restoring transplants.
Talk to your family too
In practice, a pledge nobody in the household knows about rarely becomes a donation, because the family is the one asked at the hardest possible moment. Raise it now, while everyone is well and nobody is grieving. Say what you have decided and why. Let the religious question be asked out loud at your own dinner table rather than in a hospital corridor.
A pledge is a wish you have recorded, not an instrument that overrules the people standing beside you, so the conversation matters as much as the pledge does.
Where to go from here
If the religious question is settled for you and you wish to pledge, phone and say so. If it is not settled, take the wording above to a scholar you trust and ask properly. Either way, the contact page carries the address in Sector 14-B, Shadman Town, North Karachi, and the hours, Monday to Saturday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
And separately from all of this, if your own vision has changed, do not let a religious question about donation delay a medical one about you. Speak to an eye specialist about your own eyes and book an appointment on 021-36908053.
Have a question about your eyes?
PEBS Hospital in North Karachi can examine you and explain your options. Call the helpline on 021-36908053, or send a message and the team will reply.
This article is general information and does not replace an examination by an eye doctor.
