Cryonics And Death

Assalamualaikum.

Usually my posts are in Malay but due to the amount of English essays I have to write during my diploma programme, I think it's a great idea to start writing in English. The Malay version of this post can be found here.

The other day my lecturer told my whole class to make a research about cryonics. Because my whole knowledge on this subject basically came from a tv show, so I turned to my most trusted and easiest source of knowledge, the Internet.

Cryonics is a branch of what we call fringe science. In some respect it is similar to cryogenics but way more awesome(creepy). Apparently some scientists believe that we are actually truly dead when our brain stopped working. Amazingly the brain does not stop working until few hours after our heart stops. When a person's heart stops beating he or she is clinically dead but his or her brain is still functioning. So according to the scientists, clinically dead is not truly dead. The person can still be resuscitated but unfortunately our medical technology is still not good enough to do that. So, by undergoing cryonic process, clinically dead people hope to be revived and live their lives again in the future when advancement in medical field become good enough to save them.

The cryonic process is the process of freezing your body after a doctor pronounced that you are dead in hope of preserving your brain from shutting down or in other words, preventing you from a true death. There are two types of cryonic process.

• The first one is full body preservation. The whole body is preserved by freezing them. This is more realistic approach to cryonics but unfortunately more expensive.
   
• The second type is neuropreservation. The preservation of the head WITHOUT the body. People who choose this type of cryonics are hoping that medical advancement in the future can help them to regenerate their body. Or the other option is they are hoping somehow the information in their brains can be transferred to computer.

At first look, I have to agree that cryonics seems downright haram. But I'm here to give some ideas for discussions regarding this subject. In Islam, there are few instances where some people are granted the power to give life to dead people.

• Jesus alayh as-salam was given the ability to raise people from the dead [Al-Maidah:110] 
• In the time of Moses alayh as-salam Allah commanded the people of Bani Israel to smite a dead person with parts of baqara as-safraa'(yellow cow) and then he came to life [Al-Baqara:73](some mufassirin argued that actually the parts of the cow was smited on the murderer) 
• Firaun laknatullah is said to have the power to give life [Al-Baqara:258](some mufassirin translated this so that the meaning is Firaun can opt to let someone live rather than give life to dead people) 
• Dajjal laknatullah is also said to have this power. In a hadeeth by Imam Muslim said that Dajjal kills a man and then raised him back to life.

So there are few of such incidents where people are resurrected in this world from their death. But cryonics operates in the belief that the people are not really dead. The Prophet sallallahu alayh as-salam said that every sickness there is a cure except for death. Which means that you can still be cured if you are not truly dead. So in a sense, cryonics does not contradict with the Prophet's teachings.

There are however, many implications that will arise if this process is accepted as mainstream science.

First of all, human life will be devalued. The prospect of living hundred of years will make someone feel that they have all the time to make their lives. People will cease to strive for success and will always sit back and hang around.

Cryonics will also lead to massive overpopulation of the world. The number of people that actually 'dies' will decrease exponentially and the world will be crowded by these will-be-revived bodies.

Will there be a law on who can be preserved? Let's take an example. Hitler, will he be allowed to undergo cryonics? Is it necessary for a president to be preserved? Will company that is already passed down to a son be given back to the father in the future?

Not all of it is bad though, this technology can be used in interstellar space travel. Although it has a different term. It is called suspended animation rather than cryonics. In 2005, scientists at Pittsburgh University actually succeeded in bringing back several dogs back to life after being clinically dead for few hours by suspended animation. Unfortunately some of the dogs suffered serious brain damage.

Personally, I think that neuropreservation is the most important thing in this field. I believe that one day we can transfer information from our brain to a computer. I'm not saying the conciousness or the soul but the memories and the knowledge that we have gained throughout our lives. So it would be interesting if we can preserve some genius person's brain and when the time comes we can see what did he know and understand. Isn't that amazing?

This is all however, subject to the sharia'. If most of the ulama' says it is haram, then it is so. My personal opinion however, if there is a dire importance, then it is allowed, but if it just for fun and dunya, then it is considered laghaa'.

That's it I think, till another time, Assalamualaikum.

 p/s:this is my first English post, sorry for all the grammatical errors

Cryonics Dan Kematian

Salam semua. Lama sungguh aku tak menulis. Sibuk sana sini. Jadi sebelum aku mulakan, ada beberapa perubahan aku nak buat. Pertama sekali disebabkan diploma aku kena buat esei 4000 perkataan dalam bahasa Inggeris, maka aku akan berlatih menulis dalam bahasa Inggeris dalam blog ni. Jangan risau, aku akan tulis jugak dalam bahasa Melayu. Makanya blog ni akan jadi dwibahasa. Haha...ok?

Hari tu lecturer aku suruh buat research pasal cryonics. Aku pernah dengar benda ni sebelum ni dalam cerita Fringe. Dan memang cryonics ni dikategorikan dalam satu cabang sains yang dipanggil fringe science ataupun terjemahan dia sains pelik. Apa sebenarnya cryonics ni? Ianya merupakan proses pembekuan orang yang telah disahkan mati dengan harapan kemajuan teknologi medikal masa hadapan dapat 'menghidupkan' mereka semula. Huih! Songsang! Syirik! Haha...biar aku jelaskan dulu macam mana benda ni berfungsi.

Ada sesetengah saintis percaya bahawa seseorang itu mati dengan semati-matinya apabila otaknya mati. Dan kalau kita lihat zaman sekarang, seseorang akan disahkan mati oleh doktor apabila jantungnya tak dapat digerakkan semula. Digerakkan semula bermaksud jantung tu sebenarnya dah berhenti. Tapi ianya masih ada potensi untuk digerakkan semula. Faham tak? Jantung dah stop tapi doktor masih tak cakap mati dan cuba untuk resuscitate pesakit. Kadang-kadang jadi kadang-kadang tak. Nampak tak sebenarnya tak mati lagi orang tu kalau jantung dia dah stop? Dan sepanjang masa jantung berhenti, otak sebenarnya masih berfungsi lagi. Dengan itu sesetengah orang percaya bahawa dengan membekukan jasad dapat preserve otak dari mati dan pada masa akan datang bila teknologi resuscitation dah cukup maju untuk gerakkan balik jantung diorang maka mereka pun akan dinyahbekukan dan 'dihidupkan' semula.

Ada dua jenis cryonics preservation.

• Full body preservation - Pembekuan satu badan di mana seseorang mengaharapkan dengan kemajuan medikal masa hadapan akan membenarkan beliau 'dihidupkan' semula
• Neuropreservation - Ni mengarut sikit, mereka yang memilih proses ini hanya membekukan kepala mereka sahaja TANPA badan. Mereka mengharapkan samada badan mereka boleh regenerate semula atau informasi pada otak mereka diupload ke dalam komputer pada masa akan datang.

Mari kita lihat dari sudut pandangan Islam. Pertama sekali kita mesti ingat yang semua yang bernyawa pasti akan mati.[Al-Anbiyaa':35]

Dalam Islam ada beberapa ketika di mana Allah menghidupkan sesuatu melalui perantaraan.

• Zaman Nabi Musa, Allah menghidupkan seorang yang mati dibunuh bila dipukul pada mayatnya anggota lembu safra'(kuning) [Al-Baqarah:73]
• Firaun boleh menghidupkan dan mematikan. Tapi kebanayakan ulama' berpendapat tafsirannya adalah Firaun boleh membiarkan hidup atau membunuh seseorang [Al-Baqarah:258]
• Nabi Isa boleh menghidupkan orang mati [Al-Maidah:110]
• Dajjal boleh menghidupkan dan mematikan [Hadis riwayat Muslim, maaf tak ada nas atau terjemahan kat sini]

 Jadi dengan izin Allah memang pernah orang mati dihidupkan di dunia. Tapi macam yang aku cakap tadi, saintis berpendapat bahawa orang yang telah berhenti jantungnya belum dianggap mati. Berkemungkinan kes ini lain dari dalil-dalil kat atas tadi.

Ada satu hadis

"Tidaklah Allah menurunkan satu penyakit kecuali diturunkan juga baginya ubatnya, diketahui oleh mereka yang mengetahuinya dan tidak diketahui oleh mereka yang tidak mengetahuinya [kecuali al-Samu. Ditanya: Apakah itu al-Samu ? Baginda menjawab: (Ia adalah) kematian]"

Sahih: Hadis daripada ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud radiallahu ‘anhu, dikeluarkan oleh Ahmad, Abu Ya’la, al-Baihaqi (al-Kubra), al-Thabarani (Ausath & Kabir), al-Hakim dan lain-lain, dinilai sahih oleh Ahmad Syakir dalam Musnad Ahmad – no: 3578 (Musnad ‘Abdullah Ibn Mas‘ud, hadathana Sufyan ‘an ‘Atha’...............).

Hasan: Tambahan dalam kurungan [] dikeluarkan oleh al-Hakim dalam al-Mustadrak (tahqiq: Mustafa A.Q. ‘Atha’; Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiah, Beirut 1990) – no: 8220 dan al-Thabarani dalam al-Mu’jam al-Ausath – no: 2534. Isnad ini dinilai hasan oleh penyemak al-Mu’jam al-Ausath: Mahmud Hasan Ismail.

Dalam hadis ni menjelaskan semua penyakit boleh disembuhkan melainkan kematian. Secara jujurnya aku tak jumpa hadis yang terjemahan literalnya yang sebut pasal penyakit tua. Yang memang ada disebut mati tapi beberapa mufasirin tafsirkan mati tu termasuk tua.

Logik tak kalau aku cakap ubat tu untuk merawat bukan untuk mencegah, bermakna sini korang kena dapat dulu satu penyakit baru boleh diubati. Maknanya kat sini mati yang tak ada ubat tu adalah bila korang memang dah mati. Selagi tak mati korang masih tak dikategorikan mempunyai penyakit mati yang disebut dalam hadis kat atas dan disebabkan saintis percaya yang selagi otak tak mati kita masih tak dikira mati, so cryonics ni taklah bercanggah dengan hadis tu. Faham?

Tapi bagi aku cryonics neuropreservation tu memang agak mengarut. Mungkin body regeneration tu possible tapi nak transfer otak masuk komputer tu macam agak...mehh. Aku rasa informasi tu mungkin boleh dipindahkan tapi roh tetap kembali ke alam barzakh. Kiranya informasi tu amat berguna kalau nak guna dalam mahkamah.

Tapi bayangkan kalau penggunaan cryonics ni berleluasa, semua orang akan fikir mereka akan hidup selama-lamanya. Manusia akan hilang nilai kehidupan mereka. Populasi dunia akan bertambah secara melampau sebab bilangan orang mati jauh lebih sikit dari bilangan bayi yang lahir. Gaddafi pun boleh hidup lama-lama dan buat hal kat Libya. So, masalah cryonics ni bukan dalam Islam je, tapi orang bukan Islam pun mungkin akan rasa benda ni akan mendatangkan keburukan.

Tapi ada jugak kebaikan benda ni, contoh untuk penerokaan angkasa yang jauh-jauh, benda ni boleh digunakan untuk mengelakkan kru kapal angkasa manjadi tua dalam perjalanan yang lama dan juga boleh jimat keperluan makanan dan air dan oksigen(proses ni dipanggil suspended animation). Tahun 2005, University of Pittsburgh berjaya 'menghidupkan' semula beberapa ekor anjing yang melalui proses suspended animation selama 3 jam. Secara klinikal anjing-anjing tu memang dianggap mati dalam tempoh 3 jam tu. Tapi malangnya sebahagian dari anjing-anjing tu mengalami kerosakan otak lepas 'dihidupkan'.

Jadi, apa pendapat korang? Masih syirik? Aku pun tak pasti. Aku bukan nak bagi fatwa kat sini. Konsep ni aku yakin boleh dilaksanakan secara saintifik tapi fiqhnya? Bukan tempat aku.

Sampai sini je dulu. Salam

p/s: yang versi bahasa Inggeris lambat sikit kot, aku tak hebat BI macam korang...haha