Committing Suicide is
An Abhorrent Enormous Sin and a Path to
Hellfire
The life of the individual in this world is, in principal, needed
for successfully achieving the Hereafter as a winner; a matter accomplished
through properly knowing the Creator and worshipping Him as He ordered and as
per the teachings His Prophets conveyed from Him.
Maintaining the individual's life constitutes the uninterrupted
duration of this life with which knowing the Creator can be achieved. Intentionally
and purposely interrupting the individual's life negates the sole purpose of
the sent Prophets and Messengers specifically being to teach the people the
correct knowledge about Allah and how to worship Him--ultimately winning the
Hereafter. This is why killing oneself or unrightfully killing another is an
enormous sin.
Next in enormity to the major sin of ending ones own life and
unrightfully killing another is adultery and sodomy. Adultery is an enormous
sin, but is a sin less enormous than unrightfully killing a soul, because it
does not disrupt the continuity of life. Rather it obscures the maintenance of
the sound lineage and disrupts the laws of inheritance and the other matters, without
which the sound life cannot be maintained. Sodomy is also an enormous sin, but
is a sin less enormous than adultery, because if people at large resort to homosexuality
in satisfying their sexual desires that would stop the birth of new life and
thus disrupts the aforementioned main purpose. Sodomy is less enormous than
adultery because it is desired by males among themselves whereas adultery is
desired by both males and females rendering the occurrence of adultery much
more than sodomy--hence the disruption of the main purpose is greater.
Because of this underlying wisdom Islam, as well as all other
religions, judges these matters as abhorrent enormities that lead to
destruction and severe punishment in the Hereafter.
The prohibition of killing oneself and unrightfully killing
another soul is evident in the Qur'an, the sayings of the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi
wa sallam, and the unanimous agreement of the reputable scholars and the nation.
Only an arrogant and ignorant person would speak otherwise.
The Qur'an and the Hadith explicitly show that the one who commits
suicide or kills another person unlawfully commits an enormous sin second only
to the most enormous sin of all which is associating partners with Allah. The
one who deems such killing lawful and dies with that conviction shall dwell in
Hellfire forever. The believer who deems it unlawful yet still does it shall be
tortured severely for it in the Hereafter. Both judgments are illucidated in
the Qur'anic Verses and the Hadiths (sayings
of the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam) shown herebelow.
The scholars of Islam who interpreted the verses of the Qur'an and
the sayings of the Prophet on this subject such as Abu Hayyan, an-Nasafi, al-Ghazali, al-Bayhaqiyy,
Qatadah, al-Hasan al-Bisri and others, highlighted the seriousness of this sin
and the strictness of the resulting punishment. The Scholars established that
the one who is in his right mind does know that it is prohibited to commit
suicide or to unlawfully kill another person. All the religions agree
unanimously that it is forbidden. How killing a person unlawfully could not be
forbidden when Islam prohibits the unlawful killing of an animal?
Some try to find justification in the hadith of al-Bayhaqiyy
pertaining to the incident of al-Husn (fortress) when a man in the battle
jumped down from the wall of the fortress and died, and yet he was judged as
not accountable. The scholars explained that his intent was not to commit
suicide, rather he wanted to land inside the fortress to open the gates for the
army to enter and that it is clearly understood that his assessment was that he
could do it without killing himself.
The Qur'an:
Allah said in Surah An-Nisa', Verse 29: It means: O you who believe! Do not consume
your property among yourselves unlawfully, except that it is trading by your
mutual consent; and do not kill yourselves; surely Allah is Merciful to you.
Allah said in Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 84: It means: And when We made a covenant with
you: You shall not shed your blood and you shall not turn your people out of
your cities; then you gave a promise while you witnessed.
Allah said in Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 85: It means: Yet it is you who slay your people
and turn a party from among you out of their homes, backing each other up
against them unlawfully and exceeding the limits; and if they should come to
you as captives you would ransom them-- while their very turning out was
unlawful for you. Do you then believe in a part of the Book and disbelieve in
the other? What then is the reward of such among you as do this but disgrace in
the life of this world, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall be sent back
to the most grievous chastisement, and Allah is not at all heedless of what you
do.
Allah said in Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 32: It means: On that account: We ordained for
the Children of Israel that if anyone slew a person--unless it be for murder or
for spreading mischief in the land--it would be as if he slew the whole people:
and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole
people. Then although there came to them Our Messengers with clear signs, yet, even
after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land.
Qatadah explained that this
verse reflects the enormity of such killing. Al-Hasan al-Bisri explained
killing such a soul carries a burden similar to the sin of killing all the
people.
Allah said in Surah Al-An^am, Verse 151: It means: Say: Come I will recite what your
Lord has forbidden to you-- that you do not associate anything with Him and
show kindness to your parents, and do not slay your children for (fear of) poverty--
We provide for you and for them-- and do not draw nigh to enormities, those of
them which are apparent and those which are concealed, and do not kill the soul
which Allah has forbidden except for the requirements of justice; this He has
enjoined you with that you may understand.
Allah said in Surah Al-Furqan, Verse 68: It means: And they who do not make a
supplication to another god with Allah, and do not slay the soul which Allah
has forbidden except in the requirements of justice, and (who) do not commit
adultery; and he who does this shall find a requital of sin.
The Hadith:
From the route of Ibn Mas^ud,
may Allah accepts his deeds, who said: The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu
^alayhi wa sallam, said: The first among the matters that would be settled
among the people on the Day of Judgment is the matter related to blood shedding.
From the route of Ibn ^Umar,
may Allah accepts both of their deeds, who said: The Messenger of Allah,
sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said: The believer will not cease to be in a
broad range of forgiveness in his religion unless he unrightfully slays a
prohibited blood. And Ibn ^Umar said: Among the problematic matters that one
commits and has no way out of it is slaying a prohibited blood unrightfully. Narrated
by al-Bukhari.
Allah Decreed that it is an easier matter for the world to cease
to exist than killing a believer unrightfully. Narrated by Ibn Majah.
From the route Abu ^Abdillah al-Hafidh and Abu Zakariyya bin Abi Ishaq al-Muzakki
from Thabit bin ad-Dahhak from the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, who
said: And the one who kills himself with something shall be tortured with it on
the Day of Judgment. Al-Bukhari narrated it in the book of as-Sahih from the
route of Musa bin Isma^il and Muslim related it from another venue from the
route of Ayyub.
From the route of Abu Hurayrah
who said: The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said: The
one who (legitimizes) killing himself with a piece of iron shall be holding it
in his hand stabbing himself in the abdomen while he is in Hellfire where he
will dwell forever. The one who (legitimizes) killing himself with poison shall
be holding his poison in his hand in Hellfire sipping it in Hellfire where he
will dwell forever. The one who (legitimizes) killing himself by jumping from a
mountain shall be jumping in Hellfire where he will dwell forever.
Al-Bukhari and Muslim related from the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi
wa sallam, the following story :
One man from the previous nations encountered a swelling in his
hand and out of fear he took a knife and cut his hand and he bled to death, so
Allah, the Exalted, said: My slave initiated wasting his life so I made
Paradise forbidden for Him.
From the route of ^Abdillah bin Mas^ud who said: The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi
wa sallam, said: There is no soul that unjustly slays another soul except the
first son of Adam will bear his share of the sin because he was the first to
innovate the unjust killing.
From the route of Jabir who
said that when At-Tufayl bin ^Amr ad-Dawsiyy immigrated with the Messenger of
Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, also a man immigrated with him. When they
reached Madinah the man got sick and took a blade and cut off his knuckles and
bled to death. At-Tufayl saw him in a dream in a pleasing situation but his
hand was covered, so he told him; How come I see you covering your hand. He
said: I was told we shall not correct for you that which you have spoiled. So
he narrated his dream to the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, and
the Messenger of Allah said: O Allah forgive his hands also. Narrated by Muslim
in as-Sahih from the route of Ishaq bin Ibrahim from Sulayman bin Harb.
From the route of Anas from
the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, who said: The most enormous sins are
associating partners with Allah, killing a soul (unlawfully), unkindness to
your parents, the fabricated saying or he said the fabricated testimony. Narrated
by al-Bukhari in as-Sahih from ^Amr bin Marzuk.
Ibn Hibban narrated in his
Sahih from the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, that the one who
unlawfully kills a soul under protection shall not find the odor of Paradise, and
its odor can be found from a walking distance of one hundred years.
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