Is it permissible to donate the heart?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : ... one person is dead, before he died, and another person has a heart disease. They said the best thing is that since we can benefit from the heart so that this person can live, what is your opinion on this?
The Shaykh : The answer to this has already been given.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Yes, it is not permissible to cut open the heart of a deceased person, especially a deceased Muslim; because it involves mutilation, and because of the saying of the Messenger (peace be upon him):. We mentioned this regarding the kidney because the question was asked. Anything that involves mutilation of a deceased person is absolutely not permissible. For example, a person dies and is buried in the grave, and his family comes claiming that he was murdered by strangulation. We want to know the perpetrator, so the forensic doctor claims to be a forensic doctor; these are names used today for things that are not what they are called; forensic doctor, Islamic bank, Sharia library, Islamic office, and so on [The Shaykh laughs!], and Islamic insurance, and so on, [An-Najm 53:23]. The forensic doctor comes and says: It is necessary to extract the body of the deceased from his grave and cut open his abdomen to know the cause of death. This is not permissible. His affair is finished, and he has moved from the world of this life to the world of the barzakh (the interval between death and resurrection).
What do you imagine this person is like when he is placed in the grave? Imagine this reality with me, because it is a reality and not an illusion, and few people think about it; this deceased person, when he is placed in the grave and given the prescribed or the innovated instruction, and this is what mostly happens today, unfortunately; if they come to you and ask you: Who is your Lord? Who is your Prophet? What is your religion? and so on, you say: So and so, and so on. And indeed, the two angels Munkar and Nakir came to him and asked him, and he gave the answer. Either he succeeded or what? He failed. And as they say in our region in Syria: "Darn." The forensic doctor comes and says: Expose the deceased. They exposed the deceased and took him and placed him on the dissection table and dissected him, and the forensic doctor ruled on something that does not concern us, and he was returned to his grave. Will the two angels come to him and ask him? Of course, the two angels will not come to him and ask him. Why? Because when he entered the world of the barzakh, the question came to him, so the question will not be repeated to him. Therefore, this is an encroachment on this deceased person after he has moved from the world of this life to the world of the barzakh, which is the world between the two worlds; the world of this life and the world of the Hereafter. Therefore, you must be aware that this is a rule that covers everything that requires cutting open the abdomen of the deceased and mutilating him; whether it is a kidney, a heart, or I do not know, other things here, the nerves of the brain, whatever it is; this is not permissible.
Another questioner : As for donation, this is by our ownership and our will...
The Shaykh : There is no harm and no reciprocating harm. May Allah bless you.
The questioner : As for extracting the deceased... by an official legal order, the family of the deceased cannot refuse...
Another questioner : A second issue.
Another questioner : He cannot refuse it.
The Shaykh : This is a second discussion; meaning, if we are striving now, each according to his capacity, his ijtihad (independent legal reasoning), and his opinion, to establish the Islamic society and implement Islamic rule, then when we speak these words, we know that much of it goes to waste; why? Because we do not have the power to implement it, but it is in the hands of the state. However, when we speak, it is to raise the awareness of the ummah (the Muslim community) in case the Islamic state is truly established; will this forensic doctor exist on the day of the established Islamic state? The answer is: No; and therefore such a question does not apply to us.
Yes.
The Shaykh : The answer to this has already been given.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Yes, it is not permissible to cut open the heart of a deceased person, especially a deceased Muslim; because it involves mutilation, and because of the saying of the Messenger (peace be upon him):
Breaking the bone of a dead believer is like breaking it while he is alive.
كسر عظم المؤمن الميت ككسره حيًّاThey are not but [mere] names you have named them - you and your forefathers - for which Allah has sent down no authority.
إِنْ هِيَ إِلَّا أَسْمَاءٌ سَمَّيْتُمُوهَا أَنْتُمْ وَآبَاؤُكُمْ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ بِهَا مِنْ سُلْطَانٍWhat do you imagine this person is like when he is placed in the grave? Imagine this reality with me, because it is a reality and not an illusion, and few people think about it; this deceased person, when he is placed in the grave and given the prescribed or the innovated instruction, and this is what mostly happens today, unfortunately; if they come to you and ask you: Who is your Lord? Who is your Prophet? What is your religion? and so on, you say: So and so, and so on. And indeed, the two angels Munkar and Nakir came to him and asked him, and he gave the answer. Either he succeeded or what? He failed. And as they say in our region in Syria: "Darn." The forensic doctor comes and says: Expose the deceased. They exposed the deceased and took him and placed him on the dissection table and dissected him, and the forensic doctor ruled on something that does not concern us, and he was returned to his grave. Will the two angels come to him and ask him? Of course, the two angels will not come to him and ask him. Why? Because when he entered the world of the barzakh, the question came to him, so the question will not be repeated to him. Therefore, this is an encroachment on this deceased person after he has moved from the world of this life to the world of the barzakh, which is the world between the two worlds; the world of this life and the world of the Hereafter. Therefore, you must be aware that this is a rule that covers everything that requires cutting open the abdomen of the deceased and mutilating him; whether it is a kidney, a heart, or I do not know, other things here, the nerves of the brain, whatever it is; this is not permissible.
Another questioner : As for donation, this is by our ownership and our will...
The Shaykh : There is no harm and no reciprocating harm. May Allah bless you.
The questioner : As for extracting the deceased... by an official legal order, the family of the deceased cannot refuse...
Another questioner : A second issue.
Another questioner : He cannot refuse it.
The Shaykh : This is a second discussion; meaning, if we are striving now, each according to his capacity, his ijtihad (independent legal reasoning), and his opinion, to establish the Islamic society and implement Islamic rule, then when we speak these words, we know that much of it goes to waste; why? Because we do not have the power to implement it, but it is in the hands of the state. However, when we speak, it is to raise the awareness of the ummah (the Muslim community) in case the Islamic state is truly established; will this forensic doctor exist on the day of the established Islamic state? The answer is: No; and therefore such a question does not apply to us.
Yes.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.