This paper was read during the symposium held by the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences (IOMS) in Kuwait during the period 15-17 January 1985 on the beginning and the end of human life. The starting point of this paper is that the scriptural texts are silent about how to determine the exact moment of death. Thus, medical knowledge should play a decisive role in this regard. The paper elaborates in detail on the early discussions of Muslim religious scholars about the relation between soul and body and their understandings of death in their times. The main conclusion was that brain death should be seen as an accepted death criterion from an Islamic perspective.