A Pioneer Muslim Advocate of Organ Donation

On September 17th 2021, Amjid Ali, the Former Head of HSBC Amanah Global (Halal Finance), passed away due to Covid-19 complications . Amjid was born and raised in the city of Bristol, and spent most of his education and professional life in his hometown. He joined the local bank at the age of 19, and managed to work his way up through the bank to become the Head of the HSBC Amanah global division.

At an early age, Amjid was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), a long-term condition where the kidneys do not work as well as they should, which affected his entire life and well-being then after. He was on dialysis (a procedure to remove waste products and excess fluid from the blood when the kidneys stop working properly; often diverting blood to a machine to be cleaned) for almost 23 years of his hard working ethical life. He had a living donation kidney transplant from his nephew which lasted 10 years

As a man of principle, and a man that does not take “no” for an answer, he managed to not only succeed in his banking career, but to contribute in his life-long project of supporting organ donations in the South Asian community. After years of research, conference arrangements, meetings and working behind the scenes, Amjid managed to push for a Fatwa (legal edict) written by Mufti Mohammed Zubair Butt that was issued in June 2019 in favour of organ donation.

Working on the topic of Organ Donations in a Muslim community is the not the eaisest of jobs. The dynamics of a controversial topic like this might make it seem impossible to get anything accomplished within the inevitable boundaries the person will face. Amjid mentions the reason behind this in the Foreword of the Fatwa: “Recent research, done for the NHS, shows many British Muslims do not believe that organ donation is in line with their faith”. You can imagine the load that he had to deal with to bring about a Fatwa in a topic of this nature. Resilience and hard work was translated in accomplishing a seemingly far fetched goal in the eyes of Amjid himself and rest of the British Muslim community. 

We contacted Amjid’s Daughter Sophia, and she Asked us to include this paragraph on behalf of Sophia and her Mother Lubna: “ Our husband and father was a truly incredible man who took care of us both mentally and physically. Not a day passed where he didn’t put a smile on our face regardless of what he was going through himself. Our family will never be quite the same without him as we have lost out best friend. The lessons and peace he brought us can never be taken away and we will both continue to carry on his legacy. Thank you to our angel for showing us how to be resilient and what strength truly was. Not a day will go by where we don’t think of you. You will always be the first to hear our good news and Insha’Allah we will all be reunited one day. Lubna and Sophie”.

May Allah bless his soul and grant him the best of rewards in his hereafter life and on the day of judgment.