Is Suicide Allowed in Islam?

Understanding Islam

- Articles on Topical Issues to understand Islam

These days more and more Muslims are committing suicide as a form of terrorism, therefore ‘is suicide allowed in Islam?‘
There is no place for terrorism in Islam and that suicide bombings are a flagrant contradiction of the Quranic injunctions. We will now further explain this.
The practice of suicide bombing is seen in many parts of the world and attempts have been made to legitimise such conduct. A careful study of the sources of Islam shows that there is no basis for such action and that these tactics are absolutely out of the question for true followers of Islam. Allah Almighty says in the Holy Quran

– And kill not your own selves. Surely Allah is Merciful to you. (Ch. 4.- v. 30)
– …and cast not yourselves into ruin with your own hands… (Ch. 2.- v.196)
– Islam strictly forbids the killing of innocent, non-aggressive people: no hostility is allowed except against the aggressors. (Ch. 2.- v.194)

These three verses alone should have been sufficient to prevent Muslims from crashing airplanes into buildings or from sending suicide bombers to blow up innocent civilians. So why do they do it? Unfortunately, the Muslims are encouraged to do these unIslamic acts through the promise that if they do it; then they will be regarded by Allah as being martyrs and will go straight to Heaven. But this is a false promise and such acts will only lead a person to Hell. We see an example of this in the Ahadith.
Abu Hurairah has narrated that the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be on him, said: “Whoever strangles himself strangles himself into fire, and whoever stabs himself with, a spear stabs himself into fire.” (Bukhari)
Furthermore, when such acts are committed, innocent people are killed. The Holy Quran teaches us in Chapter 5, Verse 33

“Whosoever killed a person – unless it be for killing a person or for creating disorder in the land – it shall be as if he had killed all mankind“

Explaining this verse, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community said:

“A person who kills a person unfairly or who kills someone who had neither rebelled nor became a source of violating peace amongst the people nor created disorder in the land, it is as if he has killed the whole of mankind. In other words to kill a person without any cause is, according to God Almighty, like the murder of the entire humanrace. It is obvious from this verse, how big a sin it is to take the life of another person without reason.” (Lecture Chashma-e-Ma’rifat p23-24)

Therefore whoever commits suicide or any form of terrorism which takes innocent lives is totally against the teachings of Islam.

Read more: http://free-islamic-course.org/articles-on-topical-issues/is-suicide-allowed-in-islam.html