Ask Your Imam: What is the ruling of Islam on suicide bombing?

Suicide is giving end to life. But is a person entitled to end his own life?  Did Allah, who granted him the life and flesh give him permission to destroy his life by committing suicide? Do you have the permission to terminate your own life let alone other’s?

The answer to these questions is NO.  The body of any being is not even his property. It was given to him as a trust and it must be kept as such. He has no right to destroy it.

Thus, this flesh and life are not our own possession but a trust granted to us in order to preserve our spirit. In this case, we cannot attempt to blow up the divine work of art entrusted on us. We cannot also destroy it by going on hunger strike; it is unacceptable in Islam.

We cannot explode our body using it as a live bomb. None of these  organs – hands, feet, eyes, were made by us; nor were they our work of arts. HE that created these work of art and then bestows it on us permits us to make use of the body as a trust (amanah). 

We are allowed to fix it but not allowed to ruin it. The Quran says: “And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell to abide therein, and the Wrath and the Curse of Allah are upon him, and a great punishment is prepared for him.” [An-Nisaai: 93]

And it is established from the sunnah of Prophet of Muhammad (s.a.w) and authentically related; “Indeed, whoever (intentionally) kills himself, then certainly he will be punished in the Fire of Hell, wherein he shall dwell forever”, [Bukhari (5778) and Muslim (109 and 110)].

Therefore, Islam forbids all sorts of suicides, whether by bombing or silently killing oneself. Again, some Islamic scholars hold the opinion that normal Islamic rites/prayers cannot be said at the funeral prayer of the person who committed suicide because he destroyed the structure of Allah.

Additionally, you cannot kill the animals whose meats are forbidden to eat unnecessarily. For this reason, all the bounties filling this universe require that you must make use of these blessings in compliance with the ordinance of the Creator, Allah.

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