Dissecting dead bodies in order to learn medicine
Question

                I am a medical student, and i wish to become a good doctor one day InshaAllah. Reguarding my education my problems are 

1) My books contain figures of the human body both male and female, and I do not know if Hijab permits such knowledge to be learned,

2) As a student I have to cut open dead human bodies to study the various parts of the human body. I do not know if this is haraam or halaal

3) In exams students draw pictures of specific parts in their answers (not of the whole human body). I know the hadeeth that all picture makers will be in the fire, but i donot know if it is permissable to draw pictures for educational purposes. 

Please advise me as I do not wish to go beyond the Islamic Shareeah.
Praise be to Allah.
    Fiqh councils and scientific committees have undertaken 
    detailed studies to come up with the ruling on dissecting human bodies in 
    order to learn medicine, and that is because this issue has to do with two 
    important principles: 

    1 –The sanctity of the deceased in sharee’ah, and the strict 
    instructions to respect and honour the deceased. 

    2 – The necessary interests that may be served by dissection 
    in many cases. 

    We will quote fatwas that have been issued on this matter by 
    academic bodies and some contemporary scholars, which may by summed up by 
    noting that there is nothing wrong with using dead bodies for dissection to 
    learn and teach medicine, but that is subject to the condition that the body 
    not be that of someone whose life is protected by sharee’ah, and it should 
    not be done more than is absolutely necessary. 

    It says in the statements of the Islamic Fiqh Council in 
    Makkah al-Mukarramah, quoting from Fiqh al-Nawaazil by al-Jayzaani 
    (4/208-209): 

    Based on necessities which call for dissection or autopsy of 
    the dead body and in which dissection or autopsy serves an interest which 
    outweighs the concern about violating the sanctity of the deceased, the Fiqh 
    Council of the Muslim World League has determined the following: 

    1 – It is permissible to dissect a dead body for one of the 
    following purposes: 

    (a)Examination in the case of a 
    criminal investigation to find out the causes of death or what crime was 
    committed; that is when the qaadi (judge) is uncertain of the causes of 
    death and thinks that dissection or autopsy is the way to find out these 
    causes. 

    (b)Investigation of diseases in 
    cases where dissection or autopsy is called for so that in the light of this 
    post mortem examination, precautions may be taken or suitable treatments may 
    be determined for those diseases.

    (c)Learning and teaching medicine 
    as is done in schools of medicine.

     2 – In the case of dissection for the purpose of teaching, 
    attention should be paid to the following guidelines: 

    (a)If the body is that of a known 
    person, it is essential that he have given permission before his death for 
    his body to be dissected, or his heirs must give permission for that after 
    his death. The body of a person whose life is protected by sharee’ah should 
    not be dissected except in cases of necessity.

    (b)The dissection should be 
    limited to whatever is necessary, so as not to tamper unnecessarily with the 
    body of the deceased.

    (c)The bodies of women should not 
    be dissected by anyone other than female doctors, unless there are none.

    3 – In all cases, all parts of the dissected body must be 
    buried afterwards. 

    In the book al-Buhooth al-‘Ilmiyyah by the Council of 
    Senior Scholars in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (2/83-84) it says the 
    following: 

    This matter may be divided into three categories: 

    1 – Dissection or autopsy in the case of a criminal 
    investigation 

    2 – Dissection in the case of an investigation into an 
    infectious disease, so that precautions may be taken in the light of this 
    investigation to protect others from the disease 

    3 – Dissection for scientific purposes, for learning and 
    teaching 

    After exchanging views, discussing and studying this issue, 
    the Council has determined the following: 

    With regard to the first and second categories, the Council 
    thinks that permitting them serves many interests in the fields of security, 
    justice and protecting society from infectious diseases; the violation of 
    the dissected body is outweighed by the many public interests that are 
    served by that. 

    Hence the Council is unanimously agreed that it is 
    permissible to dissect bodies for these two purposes, whether the body that 
    is dissected belonged to someone who was protected by sharee’ah or not. 

    With regard to the third category, which is dissection for 
    educational purposes, since Islam came to achieve and increase that which is 
    in people’s interests, and to ward off and reduce that which is detrimental 
    to their interests, and as it seeks to do the lesser of two evils in order 
    to ward off the greater, then if there is a conflict of interests, the 
    greater interest must be served; 

    And since dissecting animals other than humans cannot replace 
    dissection of humans; 

    And since dissection serves many purposes that are seen in 
    scientific progress in various fields of medicine; 

    Then the Council believes that it is permissible to dissect 
    human bodies in general, but because Islam pays a great deal of attention to 
    the dignity of the Muslim in death as in life, because of the report 
    narrated by Imam Ahmad, Abu Dawood and Ibn Maajah from ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah 
    be pleased with her), that the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah 
    be upon him) said: “Breaking the bone of the deceased is like breaking it 
    when he was alive”;  

    And since dissecting involves a loss of dignity, and since 
    there is no necessity for dissecting them because it is possible to obtain 
    dead bodies that are not protected by sharee’ah, the Council believes that 
    dissections should be restricted to such bodies and not bodies of people who 
    are protected by sharee’ah. End quote. 

    In Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn Baaz (22/349) it says the 
    following: 

    If the deceased was protected by sharee’ah during his 
    lifetime – whether he was a Muslim or a kaafir, whether a man or a woman – 
    then it is not permissible to dissect the body, because that is mistreatment 
    and violating his sanctity. It is proven that the Prophet  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:  “Breaking the bone of the deceased 
    is like breaking it when he was alive.” Narrated by Abu Dawood (2792). 

    But if he was not protected, such as an apostate or a 
    non-Muslim in a state of war against the Muslims, then I do not see anything 
    wrong with dissecting his body for medical purposes. End quote. 

    And Allaah knows best.