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End-of-Life Organ Donation Info for Muslims

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Muadh_Khan, abu mohammed, sharjan8643, abuzayd2k, Yasin, Crescent
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#1 [Permalink] Posted on 16th February 2020 13:43
End-of-Life Organ Donation Info for Muslims


Assalaamu alaikum all,
As you must all know by know the Organ Donation law comes into effect in April 2010 in England and in Autumn in Scotland.
I have been involved with solid organ donation for a very long time.
I have PPP prepared slides on the subject to share information about this issue with Muslims in general.

As you will see from the slides it is a very complicated subject and you have to understand the whole process of what organ donation actually entails before reaching any sort of conclusion on whether to donate or not to donate.
A simple question such as, "Is it permissible to donate your organs after death?" unfortunately misses the whole point.
I have loaded the slides on the link below or click here:

freeislamicwill.com/end-life-organ-donation-info-muslims


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#2 [Permalink] Posted on 17th February 2020 07:11
The real question about organ donation from the dead is not,
"Can I donate my organs after I am dead according to Islam?"
but
"Will I definitely be dead according to Islam when they take my organs out?"
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#3 [Permalink] Posted on 22nd September 2022 20:00
I have writtena couple of articles regarding brain death, legal death, medical death, Islamic death and actual death in the context of end-of-life organ donation. This toipic is particularly important for UK Muslims due to the introduction of the opt-out law for organ donation.
This is a difficult topic which most people do not fully understand.
Note if brain death is not death then the removal of organs is the cause of death.

Is Brain Death Actual Death?
www.jbima.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2-Ethics_6_A-H_-...

Is the “Concept” of Brain Death Compatible with the “Reality” of Religious Death

www.jbima.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2_3_Ethics_A_Hus...
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#4 [Permalink] Posted on 23rd September 2022 18:33
ah1999 wrote:
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Jazakallah, Dr ah1999, very informative.
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#5 [Permalink] Posted on 24th September 2022 16:03
abuzayd2k wrote:
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Unfortuntaely, most people including our ulema do not know what "deceadsed" organ donation actually involves.
Neither brain death nor controlled circulatory death is actual death which means that “deceased” organ donors are not actually dead when their organs are removed, even though they are considered to be legally dead. It is the removal of essential organs from donors which is the cause of death.
In Islam no one is authorized to deliberately end life, whether one’s own or that of another human being. So imposing a law of presumed (deemed) consent for ogan donation on Muslms is morally objectionable.
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#6 [Permalink] Posted on 24th September 2022 23:50
ah1999 wrote:
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Jazakallah. This was also my understanding after reading through the resources you posted. Organs need to be removed before the death (shar'i death) of the donor for transplant, because once the donor is deceased, the organs are no longer viable.
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#7 [Permalink] Posted on 28th September 2022 19:38
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#8 [Permalink] Posted on 29th September 2022 12:37
Very interesting read again of your publications and slides.

From what you've asked in the slides and what Allah tells us (and I'm in no position to hold or force my layman opinion, but here's my input)

Brain death is not actually death. You gave an example of Zack in your writings in which Zack was declared brain dead but 48 days later, woke up and got on with his life to eventually even get married. One may ask, how was that possible.

Allah tells us about a temporary death in the Quran in the form of sleeping.
Loading Qur'aan Verse
In this verse, our organs are all still functioning in full. The only difference is in the brain, where we switch off (if you know what I mean :) The brainstem is inactive but not permanently stopped functioning.
Allah takes our souls temporarily until the appointed time comes and when Allah takes the soul in full
Loading Qur'aan Verse
Translation of above verse by
Mufti Taqi Usmani wrote:
He is Dominant over His slaves, and He sends guardians over you until when death comes upon one of you, Our deputies take his soul in full, and they neglect nothing (from their duties).

So as in the example of Zack, 48 days of being brain dead and almost ready to have his organs removed was the wrong call.

How long can we be brain dead?
This question along with the above verses and the people of the cave, we can say that 300 solar years of brain death is also a reality!
Loading Qur'aan Verse

And as you mentioned in the slides, the heartbeat in a fetus starts at 22-23 days and circulation from about 4 weeks and the soul enters much later. (between 40 -120 days)

So a body can be brain dead (inactive brainstem) for 300 years with all its organs intact and functioning with the soul temporarily removed and at the same time a fetus can have a pumping heart with no soul in it at all.

Even though ultimately, it is the brain that functions all the vital organs, if it is dead and the organs are not, they aren't really dead because it could just be a temporary death as spoken about in the Quran.

When all other signs of life have gone, and there is no chance of revival, one can be declared dead.

Why would we still need to look for signs of life in a brain dead (inactive brainstem) person and what is the evidence for that?
Loading Qur'aan Verse

Brain Dead but moving?
Loading Qur'aan Verse
Had Allah not made them move from left to right in their sleep, they would have bruised up and swelled up too in those 309 lunar years.
Loading Qur'aan Verse
Allah FULLY takes away the soul at an appointed time. So being brain dead isn't being fully dead, the rest of the organs also have to be dead or not functioning. That's when we are fully dead. Wallahu Alum.
Loading Qur'aan Verse

What if the heart has stopped?
Well, CPR is done for 38 minutes, meaning the heart can still be revived and start pumping blood back to the brain and body.
Youtube Video


Death is when there is no brainstem function and other organs fail too because when we are asleep, our brainstem is inactive and there is loss of consciousness and this consciousness is reversible. But when death occurs, consciousness is not reversible.

So, in conclusion, when the brainstem has completely stopped functioning fully, only then are we dead because all other organs will have also stopped functioning and the soul would have returned to the maker indefinitely.

Therefore, the removal of an organ is not permitted because one is still alive until the last second and an organ from a dead body is useless anyway. Removal of an organ is basically killing someone and that is the same as killing all of humanity as you pointed out in your works. Making organ donation impermissible.

@ah1999 Have I understood this correctly? (I hope I have made sense)
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#9 [Permalink] Posted on 29th September 2022 12:39
ah1999 wrote:
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Unable to open link. I just wanted to skim through it as my Urdu isn't great.
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#10 [Permalink] Posted on 29th September 2022 21:30
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#11 [Permalink] Posted on 3rd October 2022 12:05
Assalaamu alaikum Abu Mohammaed sahib,
Thank you for your deatiled comments.
If I may clarify a few points.
1. Legal death and actual death are not synonymous. There are many kinds of death: medical, social, legal, actual, biological, clinical, brain (of which there are 3 types)
2. When the concept of brain death was first introduced in 1968 the aim was not to equate brain death with actual death. Some people tried to do that many years later, hence the problem we have now.
3. In individuals declared brain dead the brain is not dead, i.e. it does not start to decompose within days.
4. How long can we keep a brain dead person "alive"? The record is over 20 years. But nowadays as soon as someone is declared brain dead we either remove their organs or switch off life support thereby bring thier life to an end.
5. "because when we are asleep, our brainstem is inactive" This is not true, brainstem is active and functioning.
6. "So, in conclusion, when the brainstem has completely stopped functioning fully, only then are we dead ....." Stictly speaking this is not true.
7. "it is the brain that functions all the vital organs" This is not true.
8. "So being brain dead isn't being fully dead" In my humble opinion you are either dead or alive (not dead). There is no such thing as being half-dead or fully dead etc. Also note, There is no statutory definition of death in UK. In UK brain death is accepted as medical death the law courts accept brain death as legal death.
9. You mention the example of Ashab al-Kahf: "So a body can be brain dead (inactive brainstem) for 300 years with all its organs intact" The Ashab-ul-Kahf were breathing spontaneoulsy so cannot be said to be brain dead. Also this was a miracle of Allah SWT so drawing any conclusion for wordly life is not necessarily valid.
10. "Therefore, the removal of an organ is not permitted because one is still alive..." I agree with this and this was my main purpose of writing the article on the subject.

If you want to read a more deatiled article on brain death you can read: Is the Concept of Brain Death Compatible with the Reality of Religious Death.

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#12 [Permalink] Posted on 3rd October 2022 15:17
abu mohammed wrote:
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If you Google search "DOES BRAIN DEATH EQUATE WITH ACTUAL DEATH" you should be able to find the link to the Urdu version of the file on my website, FreeIslamicWill.com
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#13 [Permalink] Posted on 3rd October 2022 15:53
JazakAllah for your input on my points.

This is what I wanted to make clear of
ah1999 wrote:
10. "Therefore, the removal of an organ is not permitted because one is still alive..." I agree with this and this was my main purpose of writing the article on the subject.


I took the understanding that the brainstem is somewhat inactive (not fully) as this is in agreement with what the Quran and Sunnah indicate (I think)
www.scholarpedia.org/article/Neurobiology_of_sleep_and_wa...

Hence, a temporary death in sleep as Allah mentioned and as we are taught in this Dua upon waking:
"All praise belongs to the One who has given us life after he had given us death and to him is the resurrection"

An interesting topic indeed :)

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#14 [Permalink] Posted on 3rd October 2022 17:14
Jazakallah Dr AH for the detailed response. It answered all the questions that came to my mind after reading brother AM's post.
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