According to the man behind this, apparently, “It is very degrading for a human being to do this.” One can only suppose he means for a Muslim to give a precious organ to save the life of a Copt? “Syndicate chief refutes religious discrimination in organ transplant draft law,” by Nouran El Kady and Khadiga Samir, for the Daily News, Egypt, August 18:
CAIRO: Head of the Doctors” Syndicate Hamdy El Sayed refuted claims made by human rights activists that the proposed organ transplant law discriminates between Muslims and Christians.
The draft law that would regulate organ donations and transplants limits the practice to family members and bans it between people of different religions or different nationalities. This would restrict trade in human organs, the syndicate had said in previous statements.
And yet, the good doctor wonders how that could possibly “discriminate between Muslims and Christians”?
Without any regulation, Egypt has struggled with the problem of organ trafficking for years. Poverty and desperation have led many to be manipulated into selling their organs with little knowledge of the consequences.
“It’s a racist law that calls for discrimination and it discriminates between the Coptic Christians and the Muslim donors and made it less likely for sick patients to get their organ transplants,” Naguib Gabriel, head of the Egyptian Human Rights Union, told Daily News Egypt.
Gabriel added that they filed a suit against the Doctor’s syndicate.
On his part El Sayed denied any sectarianism in the law saying that “if some Copts are angered by the law then why is it that Muslims aren’t.”
Probably because any law that discriminates between a majority and minority — in this case, Muslims and Christians — invariably works in favor of the former.
“For starters, it is degrading for both religions if lets say, a poor Christian has to sell his kidney to a rich Muslim, or a poor Muslim has to sell his kidney to a rich Christian. It is not right for either religions and that is why we made this law so we can stop organ trafficking.”[…]
So much for the much heralded slogan of interfaith tolerance: “We are all Egyptians.”
Gabriel disagrees. “It will contribute to and widen the gap between Muslims and Christians and then we may find hospitals for Christians only or for Muslims only.” Gabriel added that on the long run there would be blood bags for Muslims and others for Christians”
“This decision is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood because they are controlling the doctor’s syndicate, and we will be happy if El Azhar and the Church stand with us against this decree,” Gabriel added.
Sheikh Gamal Kotb the former Chairman of the Fatwa Committee told pan-Arab paper Al-Hayat that there is nothing in Islam that prevents Muslims from receiving or donating an organ transplant from either Muslim or non Muslim.[…]
“Egypt is different from other places. No one really comes up and says they want to donate their organs to other people who are not in their family. This happens in the West but in Egypt it is mostly the poor people who are desperate and end up selling their organs for money,” El Sayed added.
There are both poor Muslims and Christians in Egypt, so what’s your point? Why differentiate between them based soley on religion?
“This happens all around in countries like India, Pakistan and China. It is very degrading for a human being to do this.”