Suicide Bombing in Islam
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This article discusses suicide bombing (martyrdom operations) in Islam, and why a number of scholars have deemed it to be permissible under Islamic law, while many other scholars have condemned the practice. Large surveys in the second decade of the 21st century have found a trend of increasing majorities who disapprove of al Qaeda and suicide attacks against civilians in most Muslim countries.[1][2]
Exceptions to norms
There are many hadith narrations and Qur'anic verses forbidding suicide. However, there are also a few hadith (and one Qur'anic passage that has been related to one of them) which some have interpreted as indicating that killing oneself is allowed under certain circumstances.
Main Evidence
The lady who was boiled or burned for her faith
Suicide bombings involve death at the attacker's own hands rather than the enemy's. The use of the following narrations to defend suicide bombings has been heavily contested. The main objections are that in both versions the woman was already being executed, and that the incidents occured in the pre-Islamic era. Moreover, the incidents are clearly intended to glorify faith when the victim could have renounced it and saved herself (similarly see Sahih Bukhari 4:56:809).
{The hadith goes on to describe that a huge brass pot was heated, and it was ordered for her and her children to be cast therein.}
She requested from Pharaoh - and he acceded to her request - that her bones and her children's bones be gathered in a single cloth and buried. Her children were then thrown into the cauldron one by one before her eyes, until they got to a suckling infant, and it seemed she wavered on account of him, but he said, "O mother! Jump in, for the torture of this world is lighter than the punishment of the Hereafter." So she jumped in.The narrators of the chain [of Imam Ahmad's version] are reliable, apart from Abu `Umar al-Dareer (though al-Dhahabi and Abu Hatim al-Razi considered him "truthful", and Ibn Hibban considered "reliable"). A similar hadith is mentioned on IslamQA, fatwa no. 39678 (where it is graded as authentic).
A similar narration involves a woman who was forced into a burning ditch, which Ibn Kathir (and other Mufassirun/Qur'an commentators), as well as Yusuf al-Uyayri, who published a fatwa which used this hadith to justify suicide bombing, has been related to Quran 85:4-9 about the people burned in a ditch (though does not include any detail nor mention the woman).
Ibn Kathir said about it:
Rewards based on intentions, and the boy who contributed to his own killing
An earlier part of the hadith about the ditch has also been used to defend suicide attacks. Here, a boy invites his own execution as a demonstration of faith, though unlike in suicide bombings his death does not occur at his own hands.
A widely shared document defending "martydom operations" in the context of the case of a female Chechen suicide bomber quotes Ibn Taymiyyah about the incident in the above hadith:
Further Evidence
One Quran verse, Quran 2:195 ("And spend in the way of Allah and do not throw [yourselves] with your [own] hands into destruction [by refraining]. And do good; indeed, Allah loves the doers of good.") has been interpreted as precluding suicide missions, though the above mentioned document cites the view of jurists that it is permissible in certain circumstances for someone to attack the enemy single handedly even if he thinks he will be killed. A number of hadiths glorify martydom. Of course, in all these cases death nevertheless occurs at the hands of the enemy rather than the person's own hands.
- According to Sahih Muslim 20:4631 Muhammad said “I love that I should be killed in the way of Allah; then I should be brought back to life and be killed again in His way..."
- A man asks Muhammad "which of men is the best?" Muhammad replies that it is the man who is always ready for battle and flies into it "seeking death at places where it can be expected."
- Muhammad said: “Surely, the gates of Paradise are under the shadows of the swords." After hearing that martyrdom leads to paradise, a young man pulls his sword and breaks the sheath (indicating that he has no intention of returning) then flings himself into battle until he is killed. Sahih Muslim 20:4681
- Qur'an 9:111 says that believers are those who “kill and are killed”Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and kill and are killed
- Khalid ibn Walid (a companion of Muhammad) said: Submit to Islam and be safe. Or agree to the payment of the Jizya, and you and your people will be under our protection, else you will have only yourself to blame for the consequences, for I bring the men who desire death as ardently as you desire life.[3]
Tabari and History of the World, Volume IV Book XII, p.463
- Abu Bakr as Siddiqi (a companion of Muhammad) said:You [Khosru and his people] should convert to Islam, and then you will be safe, for if you don't, you should know that I have come to you with an army of men that love death, as you love life.[4]
Tabari
Fatwas about suicide bombing
In 2018, a book detailing a fatwa against suicide bombings was issued on behalf of 1,800 Pakistani clerics.[5] In 2010 a Pakistani-Canadian cleric, Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, issued a 600 page Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings in Urdu and English to refute the ideology of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and was endorsed by the prestigious al-Azhar University in Cairo.
A number of well known scholars such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi and influential apologists Zakir Naik[6] have maintained that suicide bombing is permitted in Islam.
Below is a fatwa issued by Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, discussing the reasons why it is permissible for women to participate in "Martyr Operations" (e.g. suicide bombings).
. . .
The martyr operations is the greatest of all sorts of Jihad in the Cause of Allah. A martyr operation is carried out by a person who sacrifices himself, deeming his life less value than striving in the Cause of Allah, in the cause of restoring the land and preserving the dignity. To such a valorous attitude applies the following Qur’anic verse: “And of mankind is he who would sell himself, seeking the pleasure of Allah; and Allah hath compassion on (His) bondmen.” (Al-Baqarah: 207)
But a clear distinction has to be made here between martyrdom and suicide. Suicide is an act or instance of killing oneself intentionally out of despair, and finding no outlet except putting an end to one’s life. On the other hand, martyrdom is a heroic act of choosing to suffer death in the Cause of Allah, and that’s why it’s considered by most Muslim scholars as one of the greatest forms of Jihad.
. . .
Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, IslamOnline, November 6, 2006
Here is another excerpt taken from a longer fatwa (15 pages in length) by Muslim scholar Sheikh al-Uyayri, explaining in depth why suicide bombings and killing of civilians (including Muslims) via the use of them as "human shields" is permissible in Islam.
1. One's intention is sincere and pure - to raise the Word of Allah.
2. One is reasonably sure that the desired effect cannot be achieved by any other means which would guarantee preservation of his life.
3. One is reasonably sure that loss will be inflicted on the enemy, or they will be frightened, or the Muslims will be emboldened.
4. One should consult with war strategy experts, and especially with the amber of war, for otherwise he may upset plan and alert the enemy to their presence.
If the first condition is absent, the deed is worthless, but if it is satisfied while some others are lacking, then it is not the best thing, but this does not necessarily mean the Mujahid is not shaheed.
We also explained how causing a death carries the same verdict as actual killing. Hence one who plunges without armour into the enemy ranks, being certain of death, just like one who engages in a martyrdom operation, is effectively causing his own death, but they are praiseworthy because of the circumstances and intention, and hence are not considered to have committed suicide. We also clarified that [according to the majority] the identity of the killer does not have an effect on whether the Mujahid will be considered shaheed. This dispels the wavering arising from the fact that the Mujahid is taking his own life. Thus, such operations could take on any of the five Shar`i verdicts depending on intention and circumstances. Finally, we clarified that taking one's own life is not always blameworthy; rather it is contingent on the motives behind it. So, we conclude that one who kills himself because of his strong faith and out of love for Allah and the Prophet, and in the interests of the religion, is praiseworthy.Sheikh al-Uyayri
Shaykh Gibril Haddad of SunniPath.com and LivingIslam.com said about the hadith of the man who rushed into the enemy by himself seeking death (an act that was praised), regarding “Suicide Warfare”
References
- ↑ Widespread concerns about extremism in Muslim nations, and little support for it Pew Research Centrue, 2015
- ↑ Concerns about Islamic Extremism on the Rise in Middle East Pew Research Centrue, 2014
- ↑ Tabari and History of the World, Volume IV Book XII. The Mohammedan Ascendency, page 463, by John Clark Ridpath, LL.D. 1910.
- ↑ Dealing in Death - Steven Stalinsky - National Review, May 24, 2004
- ↑ Pakistan clerics issue fatwa against suicide bombings Reuters 16 January 2018
- ↑ Click here to watch an explanation by Zakir Naik in one of his lectures aired on PeaceTV.