Resolutions of Iftaa' Board



Resolutions of Iftaa' Board

Resolution No.(237): "Emphasizing an Earlier Resolution about Brain Death"

Date Added : 31-05-2017

Resolution No.(237)(5/2017) by the Board of Iftaa`, Research and Islamic Studies:

"Emphasizing an Earlier Resolution about Brain Death"

Date: (27/Sha`aban/1438 AH), corresponding to (24/5/2017 AD).

 

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds, and may His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.

On its fifth session held on the above date, the Board reviewed the following question: Based on the recommendations of the Third International Medical-Fiqh Conference held under the patronage of your eminence at the World Islamic Sciences and Education University, we hope that your eminence would clarify the final stand of Sharia on Fatwa No. (2011) concerning the donation of  human organs.

After deliberations, the Board decided the following:

The Board has already issued a resolution considering brain death as actual death upon which all rulings of a dead person apply. It is resolution No. (11), 1988. At that time, this resolution has adopted the theme of resolution No. (5/3)(1986), by the International Islamic Assembly which was held in Amman at that time.

On its part the Iftaa` Board emphasizes the content of Resolution (11) and recommend adhering to it.

The states in it and has deemed the following: From the view point of Sharia, a person is considered dead and the Sharia rulings of the dead apply to him/her if any of the following signs is present:

1- His/her heart has stopped beating and his/her breath has totally stopped, and the doctors decided that he/she can`t be revived.

2- His/her brain functions have totally stopped, his/her brain started decomposing, and the expert medical specialists ruled that this brain is totally dead and can`t be revived. In this case, he/she is considered dead although his/her heart is still beating by being on life support equipmets. In this case (2), it is permissible for the doctors to take them away, but they can`t rule that this person is dead unless they are absolutely certain of the following:

1- All conditions of brain death are present.

2- Other causes of comma are excluded.

3- The reflexes of the brain`s core have totally stopped.

4- Running all the necessary medical tests which prove that breathing has stopped.

5- Electricity is static while performing brain scanning.

6- Running any necessary medical tests to ascertain that the brain is dead.

7- All these tests must be run in a fully-equipped hospital.

Due to the religious, legal, medical, ethical, and social considerations of this issue, judging that a patient’s brain is dead must be done by a committee of expert medical specialists made of three members at least, and that none of them has any kind of hostility with the patient in question. Time of death begins from  the moment when the members of the aforesaid committee put down their signature.

On its part, the Board stresses the need for addressing this critical matter in order to ensure that the conditions stipulated in this Fatwa are executed, and that violating them entails legal accountability. And Allah Knows Best.

The Board of Iftaa`

Chairman of the Board, Chief Justice, Mohammad Mohailan

The Grand Mufti of Jordan,: Izz al-Deen al-Tamimi, Vice Chairman of the Iftaa` Board

Dr. Nooh al-Qodat, Mufti of Jordanian Armed Forces “ I have a reservation on the second sign  and see that a patient is considered alive so long as a sign of life is present in him/her.”

Dr.Ibrahim al-Keelani         Dr. Abdulsalam Abbadi

Dr. Abdulfatah Amr              Dr. Abdulhalim Ar-Ramahi

Dr. Mostafa Az-Zarqa           Dr. Mahmood al-Sartawi

Dr. Yasee Dradkeh                Dr. Abdulssalam al-Abbadi

Dr. Sa`eid Hijawi                 

   Dr. Mahmood Al-Awattli ” The same reservation 

 

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Summarized Fatawaa

What is the ruling on performing the night prayer (*qiyām al-layl*) between the first and second adhān of Fajr? And which is better: delaying the prayer until shortly before the Fajr adhān, or performing it earlier than that?

 

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
The time for night prayer (qiyām al-layl) begins after the Maghrib prayer and lasts until the second adhān of Fajr. The best time for it is the last third of the night, and best of all are the fourth and fifth sixths of the night. If the night is divided into two halves, the latter half is better.
Whoever intends to pray at night is encouraged to delay the Witr until he has prayed the night prayer. If he knows that he will not wake up, it is better for him to pray and perform Witr before sleeping, so that he does not miss both the night prayer and the Witr.
It is stated in Mughnī al-Muḥtāj (Vpl.1/p.462): “I say: The voluntary prayer of the night, that is, the absolute voluntary prayer (al-nafl al-muṭlaq), is better than the absolute voluntary prayer of the day, because of the report in Muslim: ‘The best prayer after the obligatory prayer is the night prayer.’ In another narration of his: ‘In the night there is an hour that no Muslim man meets while asking Allah for any good of this world and the next except that He gives it to him, and that is every night.’ It is also because the night is a time of heedlessness. I restricted the voluntary prayer to the absolute kind following the commentator, although what the ḥadīth and the underlying meaning require is that the night rawātib be preferred over the day rawātib, since the jurists preferred the two rakʿahs of Fajr over everything except Witr. The middle of the night is better than its two ends if it is divided into thirds, because heedlessness is greatest then and worship is hardest. If he wishes to pray during some third, the best is the fourth and fifth sixths, based on the ḥadīth in the two Ṣaḥīḥs: ‘The most beloved prayer to Allah the Exalted is the prayer of Dāwūd: he would sleep half the night, stand for a third of it, and sleep for a sixth.’ Then the latter part is better than the first if he divides it into two halves, because of the saying of Allah the Exalted: ‘And in the hours before dawn they would ask forgiveness’ [al-Dhāriyāt: 18], and the report of the two Shaykhs: ‘Our Lord, Blessed and Exalted, descends,’ meaning His command descends, ‘to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, and says: Who calls upon Me, that I may answer him? Who asks of Me, that I may give him? Who seeks My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?’”
It is also stated in ʿUmdat al-Sālik (p. 60): “It is better to perform it [the Witr] immediately after the sunnah of ʿIshāʾ, unless he has tahajjud, in which case it is better to delay it so that he performs Witr after it. If he performs Witr and then wishes to pray tahajjud, he prays two rakʿahs at a time and does not repeat the Witr, nor does he need to cancel it with a single rakʿah before the tahajjud. It is recommended that he not deliberately pray after it.”
Qiyām al-layl is a term applied to any prayer performed at night. Tahajjud, on the other hand, refers to the night prayer that follows sleep, whether it is prayed after Maghrib or after ʿIshāʾ, or the prayer performed after ʿIshāʾ without sleep. On this basis, the Witr is also called tahajjud, since it is only prayed after ʿIshāʾ.
It is stated in al-Majmūʿ (Vol.4/p.84): “The sound position, as stated in al-Umm and al-Mukhtaṣar, is that the Witr is called tahajjud.”
It is stated in Nihāyat al-Zayn (Vol.1/p.114): “Among the absolute voluntary prayers is qiyām al-layl. If it is performed after sleep, even during the time of Maghrib and after having prayed ʿIshāʾ early (taqdīman), it is called tahajjud.”
And it is stated in Ḥāshiyat al-Bujayrimī ʿalā al-Khaṭīb (Vol.1/p.418): “His statement: ‘(the night prayer)’: the genitive construction (iḍāfah) carries the sense of fī, meaning a prayer in the night. His statement: ‘(it would be more fitting)’: the reason it is more fitting is that the night prayer includes both tahajjud and other prayers.” And Allah Almighty knows best.

What should someone do whose gums are bleeding?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Whoever experiences bleeding gums while fasting must spit until his saliva runs clear — that is, until the bleeding has stopped — and then rinse his mouth to purify it.
If any of the blood enters his internal cavity (jawf) unintentionally, then his fast remains valid. And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

Is a person rewarded for refraining from all that breaks their fast when required to do so, and is it considered a valid fast?

If a person eats or drinks thinking that Fajr has not yet arrived, but then someone informs them that Fajr had already begun, they must refrain from eating for the rest of the day and make up the fast later.
If they observe the required restraint (imsak), they will be rewarded for obeying the command because fulfilling an obligation brings reward.
However, this is not considered a valid fast in terms of rulings. For example:
● It is not disliked (makruh) for them to use a miswak after noon.
● They are not encouraged to hasten the breaking of the fast at sunset.
● Other fasting-related rulings do not apply to them.

Is Zakah (obligatory charity) due on leased property, and how is it calculated?

Zakah isn`t due on the leased property itself, but on the saved income from that property if it reached Nissab (minimum amount liable for Zakah), and a whole lunar year had lapsed over saving it.