By: Tousif Raza
Suicide has become a terrible trend nowadays and youth is ending their lives with utter disrespect for life and for the love and aspirations of parents, peers, friends and relatives. There have been many incidents when young people died in a suicide attempt not really meant to end one’s life! Suicide is forbidden in Islam and no school of thought allows it. In every religion it is strictly prohibited because life is a gift from Almighty lord and it is our duty to value it. In fact, one’s own body and life is not his personal but it is a trust given by Almighty Allah. Life is such a great blessing of Almighty Allah which is the basis for all other blessings. Therefore, the summary of Islamic teachings about suicide is that it is a haraam- forbidden- act. The one who commits suicide is disobedient to God therefore liable for the eternal punishment. As believers we are obliged to protect our lives in any case and Islam does not allow any human being to destroy his/her own life at all.
The real owner of life and death is Allah, just as killing another person is considered the murder of all humanity, so is the case with taking one’s own life, which is not really his own, but a great blessing from Allah. Eliminating it or destroying it for any reason or due to any grief or problem is also an undesirable thing in the sight of Allah. Allah has made this vow in the Quran through these words “And do not throw yourselves to perdition with your own hands, and be the benefactors. Indeed, Allah loves the benefactors.” (Al_ Baqrah V _195)
Committing suicide is, therefore, a crime, socially as well as by religious perspective and the number of such incidents is, unfortunately, increasing day by day in our society. It invites wrath even though Allah has guided man step by step and made him understand that he should not dare to judge his life as his property. In Surah Al Nisa Allah spells out an order” And do not kill yourselves. Indeed, Allah is Most Merciful to you. And whoever does that, We will soon cast him into Hell, and that is easy for Allah.(Al Nisa V 29___30) Imam Fakhar Udin Razi is of the openion regarding this verse saying that “This blessed verse has a constitutional argument against the prohibition of killing a person unjustly and committing suicide. Now that it has been proven that suicide is haraam, it is obligatory to avoid suicide for the things like grief and failure, and to save others.
The last messenger of Allah (SAW) has warned double punishment to the person who commits suicide- “Whoever kills himself by falling from a mountain, he will be kept repeating this act till domes day and will go to hell, and he will stay there forever. He who ends his life through poison will also repeat this act as punishment therein forever, and he who kills himself with an iron weapon will have it in his hand, which he will strike on his stomach repeatedly forever in the fire of Hell”.
Man by nature does not tolerate sorrow and suffering, so he is tired of life and gets ready to end his life. There are two reasons for this- One is that man is convinced to live in happiness and he thinks that death is easy for him as grief is intolerable. These are the thoughts that make a person believe that ending life is actually the answer for miseries and problems. But the reality is that humans will always experience good and bad situations and there are times that are very tough and at other times one is happy and contented. The real life heroes are those who fight and believe in justice of the lord.
