One well meaning gentleman, Mr. Abidali Lakhani from Bandra suburb,
Mumbai, thought reasonably that since he has nothing more to get from
this worldly life after death he should donate his vital parts to
science so that it may help science and some other needy person.
Therefore, he decided to donate his body parts those can be retrieved
after his death from his body and put to some good use. Apparently
this is not a big thing as many well meaning persons these days think
on this line. But in case of Abidali Lakhani things are not that
simple. He never expected that a remote thing such as his religion
can come in way and sabotage his sweet dream of donating his body for
better use and not allow it to rot. When he consulted his near priest
he was told that a Muslim cannot donate body parts to anybody after
death. The reason given is very unreasonable for others but for
Muslims it means much ado.
Mr. Abidali Lakhani seventy seven of age is a Khoja Muslim person
from Shia sect in Islam. He has been writing on Shia Muslim
activities in a Gujarati periodical. When he disclosed his will his
family of three daughters objected to it. In addition to that
commotion Shia clerics also condemned that idea. They gave reason, as
per Islam a Muslim after death must be buried in whole body and that
is very important because as per their belief at the end of the world
their almighty god, Allah will CALL them all and they shall rise out
of their tombs and after that Allah shall proclaim who among them
will go to Heaven and who will go to Hell! If the dead is buried not
intact he/she cannot rise to the CALL and so that parson is condemned
for ever!
If a Muslim donates his body as whole or in parts naturally he will
never be able to rise for the CALL and Mr. Abidali Lakhani will be
condemned for ever. This his daughters did not approve of. As Mr.
Lakhani did not get support from his family and clerics he decided to
contact many other highly placed authorities in Shia Islamic ideology
in other parts of the world. Amongst them were other clerics of Sunni
sect also and they too insisted that he should forget the idea
however good it may appear to all other people. Only one priest from
Delhi, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan suggested one mid option and that was,
he can donate the parts to another Muslim only. The hitch in this
option is in the process of donation. As somebody 'donates' any thing
he loses ownership right on it. That means, as Mr. Lakhani donates
his body and or body parts to the research institute or hospital that
becomes property of that research institute or hospital and in that
case he cannot dictate as to whom the parts may be transplanted. They
may go on a Jew, Hindu, Christian, Communist or Parsee. Maulana
Wahiduddin Khan a moderate Shia cleric said that donation of body
part is the noblest cause and Allah will only appreciate it and so
Mr. Abidali is sure to go in Heaven. However, his condition that the
parts must go to another Muslim is not possibly acceptable for
reasons given here. Other Ulema rejected this interpretation of
Maulana Wahiduddin that charity of money and kinds is recommended and
charity of human body parts after death is not considered even
remotely in Koran or Hadith. Lakhani says if this facility were
available at the time of Prophet HE would have definitely accepted
this suggestion but that is not the thing and so at present
interpretation such charity is not acceptable to Islam.
Abidali wanted to give his cornea, liver, kidney, skin, heart valves,
and bones for research and also for implant on other needy person. He
did not agree with these clerics and was firm on donating his parts
after his death but finally his family became more important to him
and he has decided not to donate any part because that will disturb
his three daughters. Abidali's dream to continue to live through
these parts will not materialize. He has to rot after his death.
This news is having many offshoots to be discussed. There is
corollary to this act of donation. The corollary is that if a Muslim
cannot donate his part then he cannot also accept body parts of
another person for the same argument. That is not all; he/she cannot
donate blood or accept blood transfusion also. That is because these
treatments shall change his body to some alien conditions. That
person is no more the same person as per strict Islamic law. Some
clerics demanded that any Muslim who violets this order and donates
or receives body or part thereof or blood he/she does not remain to
be a true Muslim and so remains condemned.
In Chembur suburb where I stay there is a small cemetery of Muslims.
Undertaker of that place was my friend and he had shown me a well
within that cemetery in that well many bones, skulls were dumped. He
told me that because, the place is very small they have to exhume old
bodies to make place for new dead persons. Those bones are dumped in
that well. He jokingly told me his worry, saying, when our Allah will
CALL these people how can they get out of it? Their heads, ribs and
all other bones are so much intermingled that it is not possible for
them to rise on the CALL. He was not an educated person but he often
laughed at the very idea; but it is the saying by your prophet, I
said. Idea that Allah will CALL and dead will rise for the CALL in
body appears to be very unrealistic. He told me it is an absurd idea,
I am in cemetery all my life and from this experience I know, that
idea is not possible. When I asked him how is it that your prophet
said this he laughed away that question. This I am writing here
because, an uneducated undertaker of a cemetery knows the stupidity
in that idea but these so-called Ulema are not understanding it. What
a shame.
There are other offshoots to this concept of Muslims rising to the
CALL by their god, Allah, on the end of this world. One cleric told
me the concept has many other wider effects. In that he told me that
a Muslim person cannot cut his hair and if he does it he must
preserve all those hair and other parts such as nails also he must
keep them preserved and on his death he will be interred along with
all those hair and nails. He further said since nobody preserves cut
hair of head as well as beard and mustache and also nails all such
Muslims are not qualified to rise on that CALL by Allah. Not only
that but in addition to this he further told me that if any body
takes an implant of any body part he must preserve the removed part
until his death and that be inhumed along his body; so that will help
him in attending to the CALL of Allah. We can see how impossible it
is to abide by all these prerequisites. I told him on listening all
these difficult conditions that none of the Muslims will rise for
that CALL and that means, all Muslims are not going to be given final
verdict. If that is happening all Muslims will go to hell because
they did not abide by the condition. I warned that cleric that he has
also not saved his hair and nail and so even he is not going to rise
on that CALL. He admitted and told me that all these things he
realized only after Mr. Abidali raised this issue.
What is the difference in body ejecting feces and urine on one side
and removal of hair and nails on the other side. He told me feces and
urine are rejected by body and that is why it is not necessary to
preserve that. At every time body ejects feces and urine the body
becomes purified and so they do not remain parts of body. Whereas,
hair and nails are not thrown away by body but they are removed
perforce. That is why one must preserve them. That means a Muslim
must keep all his body hair and nails not clip them if he wants to be
a real Muslim! Just imagine how funny these true Muslims will look, I
was amusing on that remark.
Finally what remains to be considered by a sensible Muslim is that
he/she has to decide what is important to him/her? Living with
implants if need be or die because they cannot accept implants. The
cleric told me that if any part of body has become useless and so any
thought of replacing it comes up, one should understand that since
his/her body has become incompetent to live as the body parts have
become useless he/she should prefer to die considering that it is the
desire of Allah. Prefer that option and prepare to die! To insist to
live by replacing body parts is not acceptable to Islam. He insisted
that to accept implants (or blood transfusion) to live longer against
the wishes of Allah is not acceptable to idealistic Islam. I shall be
obliged if any of my readers is Muslim, wright to me on my email and
let me know what he has to say on this. I am of opinion that living
by breaking these arduous rules of Islamic law is preferred to
bothering about rising at the time of last CALL. Modern science has
an answer to this dilemma; artificial parts such as blood, heart,
skin are being developed, these Muslims should wait until they are
available or better die and qualify to wait for the CALL!
All this made me very curious about these rules of Islam. We Hindus
do not have any such rule but to be sure I consulted one
knowledgeable person. He told me as per Hindu belief this CALL comes
to a person immediately after his/her death unlike at the end of the
world. Decision of his/her after death life is decided in the first
13 days after death. That means it is better than Islamic
arrangement. Moreover, since in Hinduism body is cremated rising of
body is not expected. It is the Atman that gets the verdict on
his/her good and bad deeds during his/her life and he/she is send to
suffer or enjoy the effects or return to take next birth. On
listening this I felt much better that I am Hindu! In Hinduism there
always is a next chance that makes a big difference in Islam or other
Semitic religions and Hinduism.
You
may contact me on my Email ID given below,
You
are, invited to visit my other blogs if interested.
Ashok
Kothare
for stories
I
reckon
for philosophy
No comments:
Post a Comment