I decided to write about this now, because after leaving a comment on Smokes Blow’s blog, I had received many emails from different people around the world wanting to adopt a child and not knowing what the process was… I will put everything that I know here… and hopefully it will be useful to these people who want to adopt a child. Special thank to Naser for a great initiative.

As an orphan, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) paid special attention to orphans. He himself adopted a child and raised him as if he were his own son.

However things are not simple. In the Islamic Law, there are specific rules about the guardianship of an orphan. Mainly,  the child has always to know who his biological family is and he/she can’t change their last name to match that of the adoptive family. If the biological parents are not known, then the child has to know that he is adopted.

He/she inherits from his/her biological parents, and can inherit up to one third from his/her adoptive parents (in a will). Also if the child was rich or has inherited anything from his/her biological parents, his adoptive parents can’t use that money. There are many Ayas in the Qura’an that insist on protecting the orphans’ rights and property. (this site provides more details)

“…Nor has He made your adopted sons your (biological) sons. Such is (only) your (manner of) speech by your mouths. But Allah tells (you) the Truth, and He shows the (right) Way. Call them by (the names of) their fathers; that is juster in the sight of Allah. But if you know not their father’s (names, call them) your brothers in faith, or your trustees. But there is no blame on you if you make a mistake therein. (What counts is) the intention of your hearts. And Allah is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.”(Qur’an 33:4-5)

I need to explain, if these rules are respected, and the child was treated with love and respect, guardianship or kafala of an orphan child is something that is seen on top of the good deeds that any Muslim can do in his/her lifetime… it is a guaranteed way to go to heaven.

I will not go into explaining the rationale behind this, as it makes perfect sense to me… in Spain, a story made the news a few months ago about an adopted child who doscovered that his wife was his biological sister… but they did not know before because they were both adopted… and they only found out later when one of their children needed medical care and they both had to go through thorough medical testing… The case sparked harsh debate about the ethics involved in this case… everyone had an opinion…

In Jordan, there are laws that govern adopting a child. Jordanian law does not allow for full adoptions of Jordanian children. However, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) may grant guardianship of children to people who are not the child’s biological parents. However under specific rules.

•  To start with, the parents must be Muslims. Because every child is deemed Muslim if his parents are not known.
•  The husband must be between 35 and 55 years of age and the wife must be between 30 and 50 years of age. And they MUST be married. Single parents can’t adopt children.
•  Parents must be medically certified as infertile. They may have up to 2 children, including adopted. If they have one child then, the adopted child must be of the same sex. The reason is that in the Islamic Sharia law, there is no blood bond between them and so they are muhram.

Now to go back to the origin of the this whole research… what are the rules in Gaza?

Gazans feel very sensitive about sending war children outside Gaza, they have a sense of attachment to the land and the place. They feel that these children have already paid a lot for Gaza and it is not right to uproot them. They are home and should be brought up at home.

Also these childrem usually have relatives, sometimes too poor to raise them, but they are still loved. Relatives feel that they have btrayed the children’s parents if they put them for adoption.

However, there is only one category of children, on which the rules don’t apply. Children of incest, rape, outside wedlock… abandoned children… the problem is that no one wants to adopt them. With this category there is a room to listen, but someone needs to know someone inside.

There is a home for abandoned children in Gaza… only one place, in which all these children go. If someone got to them, then maybe… maybe they can adopt a child.

However what I found really amusing was Salamu Alaikom followed by a jolt to find a woman beggar sitting there with her baby, waiting till the men finished praying in order to get a few JDs….

Grizzly’s stories are some of many stories I have been hearing lately about people taking their children (ages begin from a few months on) to the mosque.  A friend was telling me that while she was trying hard to focus on meditation and humility, her mind was taken over by one thought; how she wished she could slap the 3 little girls, who were standing behind her back, watching the praying men from the window and giggling excited! The girls were settling world’s affairs, while worshipers were trying to listen in the most absolute silence.

 In other words    فاتحين دواوين

In yet another incident, my sister was commenting on a woman who was at the mosque with her toddler. The baby was, rightfully, upset being out of home at that late hour and so she started crying … my sister expected the mother to leap immediately out of the mosque in order not to disturb the other women … but the lady sat there  بكل نياطة as if annoying every single woman there was a perfectly respectable thing to do!…  some women  eventually got fed up with her and told her off… she resisted a bit, but then took the baby and ambled out of the mosque so slowly, oblivious to all the women who were waiting patiently for her highness to leave in order to start praying… Her actions almost sound blasphemous!

I wonder why she had to wait till someone gave her a piece of their mind in order to do the decent thing? Is it lack of common sense? Is it selfishness? Is it bad manners?

Since it is Ramadan… I would like to cast my cynicism aside and think that parents take children to the mosque only because they feel it is important to raise children with a strong attachment to their religion.… and not for any other reasons… but part of me still finds it selfish, completely tasteless and an indication of ignorance to take children and leave them unattended.  I mean if a parent insists that their children have to go to the mosque, the least they should do is make sure that they pray next to them so that they behave and not distract those who are actually there to pray.

And then…at that point, when people stop being selfish, even in practicing religion… maybe then, we could become a better nation.

I think that xenotransplantation is acceptable in most religions. (xenotransplantation is the transfer of living organs, tissues, or cells from one species to another to replace the ever increasing organ shortages.) Both Islam and Judaism forbid the eating of pork, but accept xenotransplantation on the basis that humans have a higher place in the world and therefore have the right to use animals for their welfare, as long as the animals are treated with respect.

However the question that poses itself here is if the opposite holds true? Is it possible that Islam forbids eating pork because pigs have proven to be one of the best sources to supply organs to humans?

Maybe we will find a plausible reason soon… and the reason will be more convincing than the old debates about the pig eating its shit, or because it is polygamous!

By the way I know about genetic engineering as much as I know about Chinese language… so I am counting on O.’s contribution here.
Omar
Most organ transplants nowadays are considered to be relatively safe and routine procedures. However, the global demand for organs for patients waiting for transplantation is not being met. Recently, scientists and researchers are placing great hopes on being able to use cross-species transplants between humans and animals to help alleviate part of the shortage. This process is called xenotransplantaion.

Most animal organs have been extensively researched to find the most suitable replacement to that of humans. Of all the different animals, baboons and pigs are the favored xenotransplant donors. Baboons and chimpanzees are genetically close to humans. However, because of their developed social structure, human-like behaviors, and the large number of viruses they host; many ethical and medical issues were raised concerning their use; as a result, pigs became the most likely candidates for the job; mainly because of certain characters they hold, such as: pigs have organ sizes that are very similar to those of humans, and their genes can be easily inserted in human DNA.

Risks
1- Many public health concerns regarding the clinical trials of xenotransplantation have been raised. The major growing fear in transplanting animal organs, cells and tissues into humans is that such transplants might expose humans to the many different viruses primates and other animal harbor
2- Hyper acute Rejection usually caused by the natural antibodies

3- Acute vascular rejection

4- Ethical issues

Madas
This whole debate makes me think of the novel Never Let Me Go by Japanese/British author Kazuo Ishiguro, who also wrote the Remains of the day…The book is disturbing in the sense that when I finished the last word, I realized that I had been sobbing for a while… However it is also absolutely touching. Ishiguro always allows his characters to reveal their human weaknesses via veiled but suggestive language and situations. Usually the feelings feel very real and plausible.

After the child was circumcized, he was supposed to get salt bath to make sure the skin will heal without any infections, my mother forced me to go with her to visit my sister and help her in bathing the baby… i just could not stand the agony the poor kid was going through after the shock of the birth which was not even ten days before… I am sure he was thinking, but i was happy inside why are they doing this to me?! first they get me from my dark, small safe world to this cold, big lit thing, but not only that, they deform me, and i am in so much pain! so i just sat in the balcony on the other sode of the house with my sister, who was as traumatized, leaving the procedure of bathing the child in a salty water to his grandmother and his father!!

Anyway, I have always been fascinated by the idea of circumcision… mainly because it is something that is practiced by Muslim and Jews around the world and by almost everyone in the Jordan regardless of their faith.  It is for sure one of the topics I don’t know what to think about. Circumcision is not mentioned in the Qur’an, but Muslims everywhere regard it as essential, and the Hadith record it as a practice enjoined by all past prophets. Significantly, it is also known by a euphemism: tahara, meaning “purification.

My conflict comes from believing in the power of the creation of God and the perfection of human beings. The Qur’an clearly states that God created human being in the best form… so why Muslims deform something that is supposedly created perfect?  Is it really because of following Sunnah? If so, then why do all Muslims choose to follow this specific habit from Sunnah whether they are extremist, liberal or secular? And not the other aspects of Sunnah?! And sometimes not even religion itself?  I mean many Muslims drink for example or don’t pray or don’t fast… but they are all circumcised! or at least I think they are!!
 

I obviously don’t have answers… but I would like to discover a bit of the history of circumcision.

According to Dr. John Smith, circumcision, or removal of the foreskin, is an operation of great antiquity. As a magical or initiation rite it was introduced independently by aboriginal tribes in Australia, Africa and the Americas. Circumcision was practised by the Egyptians of 3,000 B.C., at first as a privilege of the nobility, but it later became the custom for all males. The origins of the practice are lost in antiquity. Theories include that circumcision is a form of ritual sacrifice or offering, a sign of submission to a deity, a rite of passage to adulthood, a mark of defeat or slavery, or an attempt to alter esthetics or sexuality. It was later on adopted by Jews and by Muslims after them Another question here, how come Christians are not required to get circumcised? When Christianity also started in the same area? And why do Christians in Jordan at least follow this tradition? Does that mean it is more of traditions than religion?
 

The most interesting theory I found is proposed by Dr.Bashir Quereshi:
  “…in Ancient Egypt, there was a pharanic belief that gods were bisexual.  A man or women must be unisexual so as to belong to their respective gender group and not to mimic the gods. Pharaohs believed that the feminine soul of the man was located in their prepice (the tip of the foreskin) and the masculine soul of the woman was situated in the clitoris.  Therefore male and female circumcision was performed to please the gods so as to obtain favors.”.. A Cool theory. No?!
 

Before i go further in the story, let me explain what is 3ideh. In islam when a woman either gets divorced or widowed, she can not get married for 3 monthly periods, to make sure she is not pregnant. I asked Abir shocked if her mother in law was planning to get married, and she answered me,no but basically they asked many sheikhs and they told them that a woman is NOT allowed to leave the house for 3 months in case of divorce or widowhood!

I was APPALLED to hear that, but what really HORRIFIED me is the fact, that a perfectly intelligent and liberal woman like Abir would actually believe in something like that, satisfying herself with an answer like “I asked many sheikhs” without even questioning. I was wondering if a smart, highly educated person like her would fall in this trap, who would blame the million of other women around the world who believe in many faulty ideas just because some sheikh said that. In all cases, and since i believe that when you have doubts in religion, there is one and only book you refer to and that book is called the QURAAN! and since i do not believe that i have to put the understanding of a sheikh between God and me, because if Quraan is for everyone, i should be able to understand it as much as any sheikh would… I decided to look this issue up.

I found the answer in Surat al baqara, verse number 228, where is says “Divorced women shall wait concerning themselves for three monthly periods. Nor is it lawful for them to hide what Allah hath created in their wombs, if they have faith in Allah and the Last Day…” Then i decided to look up all known books of explaining the Quraan, (jalalein, Ibbn katheer,…etc)just to see what they say, and they all agreed on the fact that a woman should wait 3 periods before she get married again. and if she is an older woman who does not get her period anymore, or a married woman who has not consumated the marriage then she does not have to wait at all… So where did all these sheikhs come up with this fatwa? i have no clue!

It made me wonder about today with the scientific advancement a woman can know if she is pregnant in a matter of hours… does she still have to wait thrree months? I wont answer that for everyone, but i made up my mind on the answer for myself.

so my advise to everyone is dont accept anything without questioning… i suppose this is one of the reaosns we have our brains to think and question and decide.