I have a daughter who needs surgery, but the success rate is low. What is your opinion?
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The questioner : I previously asked you, O Shaykh, a question about a daughter of mine who is in the nursery. The consulting doctors said that she needs an operation to open the esophagus, and that the success rate of this operation is 8 percent.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : The success rate is 8 percent, and 92 percent is death. You answered me by refusing, telling me to leave her to Allah the Exalted. Now they have contacted me to perform an operation to open the tube... I asked them about this operation, and they said, if Allah wills, it will have no effect on her. So what is your opinion, O Shaykh? Should they perform this operation? The child is seven months and ten days old...?
The Shaykh : I say, may Allah reward you. My answer to this is, first: medication or treatment is not guaranteed to be successful, is it? Even if the doctors say there is a 99 percent chance of success, it may not succeed.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : A minute. As for what concerns the esophagus, I have already answered you, and I am still on my answer: leave the matter to Allah. As long as the operation involves, meaning, some intervention and cutting into this person, and the success rate is low at 8 percent, I am still on my fatwa that you should leave her to Allah the Mighty and Majestic. If Allah Blessed and Exalted is He wills to heal her, He will heal her, because He is the One who created her in the first place, and He is able to remove the illness from her. However, if it is an attempt to open the esophagus without an operation, such as inserting tubes or similar things that might dilate it, then there is no harm in that, because there is no cutting and no danger. As for what concerns the stomach...
The questioner : They want to open into the stomach... the stomach, and insert something so they can feed her with milk.
The Shaykh : Okay. As for opening something in the body in order to deliver milk to the stomach, if there is no harm in it, and this is done to the extent that they attempt to open the esophagus, then, if Allah wills, there is no harm in it.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : The success rate is 8 percent, and 92 percent is death. You answered me by refusing, telling me to leave her to Allah the Exalted. Now they have contacted me to perform an operation to open the tube... I asked them about this operation, and they said, if Allah wills, it will have no effect on her. So what is your opinion, O Shaykh? Should they perform this operation? The child is seven months and ten days old...?
The Shaykh : I say, may Allah reward you. My answer to this is, first: medication or treatment is not guaranteed to be successful, is it? Even if the doctors say there is a 99 percent chance of success, it may not succeed.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : A minute. As for what concerns the esophagus, I have already answered you, and I am still on my answer: leave the matter to Allah. As long as the operation involves, meaning, some intervention and cutting into this person, and the success rate is low at 8 percent, I am still on my fatwa that you should leave her to Allah the Mighty and Majestic. If Allah Blessed and Exalted is He wills to heal her, He will heal her, because He is the One who created her in the first place, and He is able to remove the illness from her. However, if it is an attempt to open the esophagus without an operation, such as inserting tubes or similar things that might dilate it, then there is no harm in that, because there is no cutting and no danger. As for what concerns the stomach...
The questioner : They want to open into the stomach... the stomach, and insert something so they can feed her with milk.
The Shaykh : Okay. As for opening something in the body in order to deliver milk to the stomach, if there is no harm in it, and this is done to the extent that they attempt to open the esophagus, then, if Allah wills, there is no harm in it.