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| What
Does Islâm Say About Suicide? Islam's
philosophy of life and the values that it promotes are based on a
particular point of view regarding the life of this world. Islam holds the
life of this world as a temporary testing time for humans. For
as long as one lives one is being tested. The end of this temporary life
is not the extinction of man. A person shall then open his/her eyes in
another world. That world shall be the place of reward and/or punishment
for the deeds done in this life. The second life shall not be temporary in
nature. The pleasures and pains of the second life shall last forever. In
the life of this world, man is being tested with different kinds of
situations - good times as well as bad times. The good times that come our
way are not necessarily a reward and the hard times that we have to face
are not necessarily a punishment. These are all primarily a part of the
test. The
Qur’ân says: Everyone
is going to taste death, and We shall make a trial of you with evil and
with good, and to Us you will be returned. (Al-Anbiyâ 21: 35) ".........Nor
kill (or destroy) yourselves: for verily Allah hath been to you Most
Merciful! " (An-Nisa 4:29) "......if
anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or (and) to spread
mischief in the land - it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if
anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind
...." (Sűrah Al Ma'idah 5:32) For
all the blessings that one enjoys in the life of this world, he/she is
expected to be grateful to his/her Creator and to rejoice and proclaim His
beneficence and providence. While during all the hard times that come
his/her way, he/she is expected to remain steadfast in Allah's obedience,
never losing faith in His wisdom and mercy. The
beginning (i.e. the birth) and the end (i.e. the death) of this test for
an individual is controlled by the Almighty Himself. He gives life and
death to an individual according to His own absolute knowledge and wisdom.
Keeping
the above explanation in mind, it should be easy to understand that Islam
holds suicide to be harâm (i.e. prohibited). Suicide implies lack of
trust in God and a lack of faith in His benevolence, mercy, love, wisdom
and knowledge. In effect, suicide implies lack of faith in God Himself.
When a person commits suicide, he/she practically declares that he/she
does not believe that God knows about his/her sufferings, and if God has
knowledge of his/her sufferings, he does not care enough to relieve
him/her of these sufferings. A
person practically declares that God has unjustly inflicted pain upon
him/her, which he/she is not willing to bear. A
person practically declares that he/she does not have faith, confidence
and trust in the mercy and wisdom of God, as he/she does not have
confidence that God will end his pain in time, and therefore he/she has to
end his/her sufferings himself/herself (by taking his/her own life). Thus,
in effect, suicide - in most of the cases - is a clear sign of negation of
the faith of a person in his Merciful, Omniscient and Wise Creator and is
therefore prohibited in Islam. Some
sayings of the Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) related to suicide: |