What is the ruling on using electric shock in the treatment of an epileptic?
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The questioner : And among that is electric shock?
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : Electric shock.
The Shaykh : Is there also electric shock?
The questioner : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : I do not know if it is electric shock; we know it among the doctors.
The questioner : They say it is tried.
The Shaykh : Among the doctors, there is no harm. In truth, there are matters that pertain to experience and do not pertain to religion. So, regarding electric shock, I think you know that this is a customary matter among materialist doctors. When some patients suffering from a type of epilepsy come to them, they use all the customary treatments they have, and then they resort to these electric currents on the basis of "the last medicine is cauterization". So we cannot say, and my research now is regarding materialist doctors, we cannot say what is the ruling on applying these electric currents to some patients suffering from epilepsy or otherwise, because the matter does not pertain to religion in the first place, but rather to medicine, and I am not a doctor. As for religion, it has not addressed this, neither negatively nor positively.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : Electric shock.
The Shaykh : Is there also electric shock?
The questioner : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : I do not know if it is electric shock; we know it among the doctors.
The questioner : They say it is tried.
The Shaykh : Among the doctors, there is no harm. In truth, there are matters that pertain to experience and do not pertain to religion. So, regarding electric shock, I think you know that this is a customary matter among materialist doctors. When some patients suffering from a type of epilepsy come to them, they use all the customary treatments they have, and then they resort to these electric currents on the basis of "the last medicine is cauterization". So we cannot say, and my research now is regarding materialist doctors, we cannot say what is the ruling on applying these electric currents to some patients suffering from epilepsy or otherwise, because the matter does not pertain to religion in the first place, but rather to medicine, and I am not a doctor. As for religion, it has not addressed this, neither negatively nor positively.