"these precious illusions in my head, did not let me down when i was a kid. and parting with them is like parting with a childhood bestfriend" - Alanis Morisette

so i have been studying a lot at starbucks lately and most of the people who do visit that starbucks are medical students, doctors, interns and they usually are armed with a yellow highlighter, and ipod and some fat medical book. my surroundings make me think. my question today is would you donate your organs, once you are dead, for science? in undergrad, in my first year i decided that i would, and this wasnt a conscious decision or a well thought out decision, nor did i think of it as a religious decision. it was more of a i was asked and was given facts on how many people die because they cant find a suitable donor and so i decided there and then i would. the facts were about people who did not live longer but people who should have lived longer. and i kept that paper in my wallet, for the next three and half years, during my undergrad that if i did die i would give my organs up for donation. all of them.

and then i moved back to dubai and i misplaced my wallet and that paper. i dont remember who, but a long time ago i had this discussion with another muslim on how when we are resurrected on the day of judgement we should have all our organs intact. so in ohter words we should not donate our organs.

in all honesty, i didnt really pay much attention to it until recently and decided i would do some more research on it and in fact contrary to what others think and contrary to my ignorance, organ donation is permissible provided it is done according to Shariah rule. The rules are pretty straightforward and commensensical(!), the donor should be in his whole hosh aur awaz, over 21, the organ donated should not be a vital organ for which his/her life is dependant on, it should be done to save someone's life but not at the cost of your own, this should not be a monetary transaction and you should not profit from the sale of your organ, sexual organs may not be transplanted, and most importanly it should be done of your own free will. so in other words its ok to do so under certain conditions.

its quite dangerous this problem of hearsay, we hear things from others and we deem them the truth. but in fact its quite far from it. never believe everything you hear. some things should be read up by yourself and trust your instincts some things make sense you have been given this gift of common sense to judge what is right and what is wrong. sometimes, we forget to use it.

that being said, i think it is much easier on an individual to make this choice without consulting anyone, since once you are gone you are gone. thats it. you arent coming back to earth. and i do think its the right thing to do.

but when it is your loved one being sliced open yes even for a good deed, even for another person's life, for science, i dont know if i can be fully on board with it. the people left behind who know you and love you have to see through it. and it never is about you and only you anymore. so how easy is it to allow them to make that decision. i honestly dont know.