Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
Giving my heart away [organ donation?] |
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Anonymous |
07/14/01 at 23:40:00 |
Salam In Islam are we allowed to donate our organs after we die? I know that we are not allowed to burn our bodies or cause harm after we die. But does that mean we can not donate our organs? And if we are not allowed to donate organs are we allowed to accept organs in a heart transplant or kidney transplant? |
Re: Giving my heart away [organ donation?] |
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se7en |
07/17/01 at 14:57:06 |
wa alaykum as salaam, [quote]And if we are not allowed to donate organs are we allowed to accept organs in a heart transplant or kidney transplant?[/quote] What's interesting is that grafting was discussed centuries ago by the ulema (!) This is something about which there is some deliberation. In a class I attended we discussed some of the things that need to be taken into consideration with this question, and there are *a lot* of factors that have to be taken into account here.. An issue that was brought up is whether the donor is alive or dead. If the individual is alive, obviously you have the person's consent in performing this type of surgery, but also the pain that individual suffers through is something we can perceive and measure. But if the individual is dead, the pain that may come from this type of surgery is not limited to our 4 dimensional type of living - there are dimensions of pain and joy we do not perceive after death. Rasulullah [saw] said, be careful when you wash the dead, for they feel as you feel. so that's something we have to take into consideration as well.. what effect will doing this have on the 'life' of the individual in the dimension of after-death? Another issue that was brought up is that medicine as we know it is still in its infantile stages, and that there is more to the body than what med school is teaching people. That there is more to the heart than just a muscle in the chest. We know so little about this 'qalb', this 'spiritual heart'. Rasulullah [saw] said, indeed there is a lump of flesh in the body, if it is good then the whole body is good; and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt; indeed it is the heart. The ulema speak of the qalb as being blind, being aware, etc. The qalb is called the sovereign of the body, of good and evil, right and wrong. Ghazali tells us that the qalb is a spiritual entity but is somehow connected to the physical heart. Even in our own individual experiences some of us have felt this muscle in our chest tighten or release based on our spiritual state.. so does removing the heart affect us only physically? or spiritually as well? Medicine doesn't know that.. there is a dimension to this qalb that is not physical, though our understanding of it is limited.. And we know that a person who is kaffir is najas on the spiritual level, as is the best interpretation of the verse in the Qur'an that says, 'o you who believe, verily the mushrikoon are najas, and they must not approach masjid al-harram..' And when a person takes the shahada, affirms their belief in Allah, something happens in the body that causes tahara and removes that state of najassa.. so what does this mean in terms of taking something of a kaffir's, specifically their heart, into your own body? It was a pretty amazing class.. I gotta type up the notes one of these days.. but it really gave me an appreciation for the complexity of such issues and the care with which they need to be handled.. So because it's such a serious issue, I think it'd be best for you to speak with an imam or scholar about it and see what he/she has to say. wAllahu 'alam take care :) wasalaamu alaykum. |
Re: Giving my heart away [organ donation?] |
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Arsalan |
07/17/01 at 19:15:38 |
[slm][quote]It was a pretty amazing class.. I gotta type up the notes one of these days.. [/quote]I'd be interested in seeing the notes once you're done typing them. Jazak Allahu Khairan :) |
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