Introduction to Special Issue: Organ transplantation in Islam : perspectives and challenges

It has been suggested that tissue and organ transplantation, as a surgical procedure to restore lost or mutilated body parts, is a centuries-old practice confirmed in an ancient Sanskrit text on medicine and surgery called the Sushruta Samhita in circa 600 B.C (Schlich 2010). Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and North and South American surgeons transplanted teeth and Arab medical practitioners mastered this technique over a millennium ago (Peer 1955; Kee 1986). Hamilton (2012) found in his study that various images of the third-century twin physician saints Damian and Cosmas in several shrines reveal them transplanting a human limb. Although the concept is not new, the way complex medical surgical procedures are carried out and the types of organ transplantations practised such as heart transplantations today are new modern medical marvels achievable due to the progress made in medicine, science, and technology.