Suicide in Islam - Shaykh Aqeel Mahmood

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

Praise be to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our actions.

Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He misguides, none can guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared. And do not die except as Muslims.

O you who have believed, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul, and created from it its mate. And He spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah, about whom you ask, and the wombs. Verily, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who have believed, fear Allah and say the right word. Verily, He will set right for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great triumph.

As for what follows: the best of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And the worst of things are its innovations. And every innovation is a misguidance. And every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Sanctity of Life in Islam

Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, in the Quran, tells us about the value and the sanctity of life. He says:

Whoever kills a soul — unless for another soul, or as a result of corruption in the land — it is as if he has killed the whole of mankind. And whoever saves a soul, it is as if he saved the whole of mankind.

Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, in the Quran, also tells us: do not kill one another. Do not destroy the soul, or kill the soul, which Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, has made forbidden. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, has made it haram.

Don't use your own hands to destroy yourselves. Don't harm yourselves.

Along with this, and included in this, is a person harming oneself — whether it's self-harm, or whether it's suicide, or even euthanasia: helping somebody else to kill themselves, which is, in essence, a type of murder.

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

In these countries that we live in, in the West, many of these countries have debated the issue of suicide and, more specifically, euthanasia — whether or not it is allowed for a person to bring about death upon himself if he is suffering from some type of long-term illness or pain. In some countries, euthanasia, assisted suicide, active euthanasia — which is deliberately causing somebody else to die, doing something to that person so that he ends up dying, with his permission — is actually legal. In Holland and in Belgium, it is something which has been made legal. So a person could ask somebody else to help them to kill themselves. Even in this country it was debated in Parliament, but the law did not accept this act to be legal. But it is something which is happening in today's society.

And if we look at and reflect on the value of life in Islam, there are many ahadith and many narrations — on top of these ayat which I have just mentioned — that tell us about the sanctity and the preciousness and the blessing of life.

The Value of a Long and Righteous Life

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us in a hadith about the blessings of life. He told us:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2329)

The best of people is that person whose life is prolonged and whose actions are many and perfected — who does lots of righteous deeds. When a person has been given the blessing of long life and is able to, with that long life, continue to do righteous deeds, this is from the greatest blessings that a slave of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, could have.

And death, specifically, is something which only Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, can take away from an individual. It is only the right of Allah azza wa jal to take away somebody's life, to end somebody's life. And this is why He tells us in the Quran:

When a person's appointed time comes, they are not going to be able to delay it for an hour, nor will they be able to bring it forward for an hour. Meaning: when a person's appointed time comes, it is Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, who dictates and decides when a person's death will come, when his soul will be taken away from him.

And so when a person causes himself to die — when a person commits suicide, by whatever means — he is doing something which he has no right in doing. Because this is something which only Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, can do. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, of course, knew he was going to kill himself. But Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, also knew that if he never killed himself, if he never committed suicide, then he would have died from another means, in another fashion, at another appointed time, in another place. So when a person hastens death upon himself, this is something which Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, has considered a crime — because you are taking away the sanctity and the value of life.

Do Not Wish for Death

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us in another narration about not hoping for death — not wanting death — not being somebody who wants death to be hastened upon him. Because so long as you have life, you are able to do righteous deeds. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 7235; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2682)

None of you should wish and hope for death. Either he is a righteous person and he is going to increase in righteousness — he is going to continue to do good deeds — or he is a sinful person and maybe he will repent. There is still time for him to repent. So long as he has life, he still has that chance and that time and that ability to be able to seek Allah's forgiveness, to be able to repent. Once that time is over, once he has no life, there is no chance for him to be able to ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, for forgiveness. And only Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, out of His mercy, can choose to forgive whomsoever He wants. But that is His choice after a person has died.

The Story of the Shaheed and His Companion

Abu Hurairah, radiyAllahu 'anhu, narrated a hadith where he said that two companions passed away. One passed away as a shaheed — he died in battle. Another passed away a year later from natural causes. When they passed away, one of the companions had a dream where he saw these two companions entering paradise. But the one who was a shaheed, the one who fought and died while fighting for the sake of Allah and was killed, this person was delayed from entering paradise. And the other person who died a year later entered paradise first.

So he went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and mentioned this dream — that the person who died afterwards from natural causes entered paradise first, and the one who was a shaheed who died a year prior was the second of the two to enter paradise. And so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told the companion and those who were there:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3925)

Did this person who entered paradise first but died a year later not fast an extra month of Ramadan? And he prayed 6,000 extra raka'at of salah — nawafil prayers. Meaning he was given an extra lease of life — one extra year — as a result of which he was able to continue to worship Allah for a whole year: fasting a whole month of Ramadan, praying 6,000 extra raka'at of prayer. Something which the person who had passed away prior — one year before him — was not able to do, even though he was a shaheed. And this shows us the value of life, how valuable life is, and how much you can actually accomplish with the time that you have been given.

And this is why the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us about not hoping for death — because it may be the case that a person dies and he will be worse off in the akhirah. No matter what trial or tribulation or suffering or torment he is going through in this world. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us: do not wish for death, for the terror of what follows after death is immense. It could be worse. You do not know your situation or where you are going to end up after you pass away. You do not know whether Allah has forgiven you for those sins that you committed, whether you are going to be from the inhabitants of paradise or hellfire.

And so when Allah gives a person that life, it is a sign of blessing. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said it is a blessing from Allah to live long and be guided by Allah to repent. So long as a person has been given life, he is able to repent to Allah. He can ask for Allah's forgiveness.

The Sin and Consequences of Suicide

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us about the sin of suicide and the consequences of suicide, and what happens to a person when he commits suicide. He said that amongst the people who came before us was a man who suffered a wound in battle and the pain was unbearable. He could not deal with the pain. So he took a knife and cut his hand. Blood started to come out of that wound he made himself — a self-inflicted injury. And as a result of this injury which he caused upon himself, he passed away.

And as a result of this, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said that Allah said: "My slave hastened to bring death upon himself, so I have forbidden paradise for him." Paradise is haram for him because he hastened death upon himself. Maybe if he had been patient he would have survived, and he could have continued to do righteous actions. But he hastened death upon himself.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ also talked to us about the consequences of suicide and the punishments of those who commit suicide. He mentioned in a hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5778; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 109)

Whoever throws himself down from a high place or a mountain and kills himself will be throwing himself down in the fire of hell over and over again, forever and ever. And whoever drinks some kind of poison to kill himself and dies as a result of that poison which he drank himself, he will be drinking this poison forever and ever in hellfire — non-stop, in a constant loop. And if a person kills himself with a piece of iron or a piece of metal, he will be doing that same action, thrusting this iron into himself, forever and ever in hellfire.

So we see, brothers and sisters, the consequences of not valuing life, of not thinking about the preciousness of life and the sanctity of life, of not being thankful to Allah — that there are some who are no longer with us and whose deeds have stopped. But Allah has given us the opportunity, no matter in what state we are, so long as He has given us life, to do righteous deeds — whether it is through our bodies, through our tongues, or with our hearts. There is always the opportunity to continue to do righteous deeds so long as Allah has given us life and the opportunity to worship Him.

The Wisdom in Every Hour of Life

One of the men from the past was in the company of a scholar and he said: "How great death is — what a good thing death is." And the scholar he was with said: "O my son, do not say this, because for every hour that you have of life in which you ask Allah for forgiveness is better for you than an eternity of death. Just one hour that you have asking for forgiveness from Allah is better than death, because you can never return back from death. You can never come back and ask Allah for forgiveness. So even one hour that a person has — he can use that to worship Allah, he can use that to ask Allah to forgive him." And it may be the case that as a result of that extra hour asking Allah for forgiveness, it was the difference between him leaving hellfire and entering paradise — just that one single hour, just that one extra good deed, may have ended up tipping the scales on Yawm al-Qiyamah where he ends up entering paradise as opposed to entering hellfire.

The Reality of Suicide in Our Communities

When we reflect and look at suicide in this country alone, in 2016 over 5,600 people committed suicide — around 15 every single day of that year — and most likely in subsequent years it is going to be either the same or possibly more. And researchers have looked into why this is the case: why are there so many suicides taking place? And this is something which I am sure many of us — if not all of us — know of someone directly or indirectly who killed themselves, who committed suicide. A Muslim maybe — directly, somebody we were close to, somebody we knew on a personal level — or maybe indirectly. I am pretty sure most of us are aware of someone who has ended their own life.

And we have to ask ourselves: why is this the case? Why is this happening? Yes, suicide and ending one's own life is something which is impermissible, something which is haram. But at the same time, there must be some causes behind why they are doing those things. And we heard of the case of the man who was in the masjid in Mecca — in the Haram in Mecca — who jumped from the first or second floor of the masjid and ended up killing himself. He was a French national, and it was said that he had some psychological, some mental illnesses. So this is something which is happening to Muslims.

Causes of Suicide

Researchers say that there are a number of reasons why a person will be tempted or will think about suicide:

Mental illness is one of those reasons. A person suffers from psychological illnesses, and those psychological problems make him want to kill himself.

Substance abuse — a person is involved in drugs, alcohol, or other types of substances. As a result of that substance abuse, maybe he cannot feed that habit that he has, and he ends up killing himself.

Family problems — stress at home, problems with one's spouse or with one's parents, problems with one's children. That stress and pressure makes them end up thinking, contemplating, and committing suicide.

Hopelessness and despair — a person feels hopeless, as if there is nothing he can do. He is in some kind of calamity. He feels there is no one to turn to, no one to help him. A sense of despair. He feels like there is nothing that can be done for his situation — even though there may be many people suffering from the same thing — but he feels a sense of being alone. This hopelessness, this despair, and he ends up killing himself.

A sense of loss — whether it is the loss of a loved one, a husband or wife passes away, a parent passes away, a sibling, a child passes away, and the person feels like there is nothing to live for anymore. Or the loss of a job that he has had for 20 or 30 years — that was his routine, his income — and he has lost it, and he does not know what to do. So when a person loses something, whether it is a family member or a job, it causes him to contemplate suicide.

Loss of self-esteem and self-worth — thinking that he is not worth anything, he is not important, no one pays any attention to him, no one even knows that he exists. So if he does end up killing himself, no one is going to notice.

Emotional and physical pain — a person is suffering from some type of illness or some type of accident that possibly took place, causing him some kind of disability or permanent pain. As a result of that pain — be it physical or psychological — he cannot survive anymore, he cannot deal with the pain, and he is hoping death will come to him.

The Sunnah's Guidance for Those Who Suffer

When we look in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, there is a hadith which tells us about those who are suffering. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5641; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2573)

There is no Muslim who suffers from hardship or illness or anxiety or grief or sorrow or harm — even the pricking of a thorn on his side, something as small and perhaps as insignificant as that — except that as a result of any of those problems he may be facing, Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, will expiate and remove his sins. The greater the calamity, the more Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, will expiate his sins. And even the smallest calamity — even the pricking of a thorn — Allah will remove that person's sins.

So when you reflect on somebody who has been given life and is suffering from something, we should always remember: any type of problem that we are facing — because every single one of us is going through something, whether it is a physical illness, whether it is stress, anguish, sorrow, pressure, or anxiety — Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, as a result of our patience and obedience to Him, will continue to remove and expiate our sins. This is something that we can be hopeful and optimistic about: so long as I have been given life, there is a chance that Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is removing my sins as a result of these calamities and these trials and tribulations that I am going through.

The Advice to Al-'Abbas and the Du'a in Times of Calamity

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ also gave guidance when his uncle Al-'Abbas, radiyAllahu 'anhu, was gravely ill and thought he would die. He was in so much pain and agony that he wished for death to come to him. And so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told him:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5671; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2680)

None of you should wish for death as a result of some kind of calamity that you are going through — whether some kind of physical pain or some kind of emotional pain. But if the pain is so much, if it is so severe, if the calamity is so great that he cannot deal with it anymore, then let him say:

"O Allah, give me life so long as life is better for me, and give me death if death is better for me."

So this du'a is something that can be said if a person is going through a calamity — but even in this, you are leaving it in the hands of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. If Allah gives you life after this, you know life was better for you. If Allah gives you death, then that is something which Allah knew was better for you. But you are leaving it entirely in the hands of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Our Responsibility Towards Those in Need

Finally, brothers and sisters: many of us will know of somebody directly or indirectly who was involved in suicide, who killed themselves. And one of the things that we could do as Muslims — as we mentioned, the causes of suicide could be despair, hopelessness, loss of self-esteem — is helping our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters in whatever way we can. Because it may be the case that they are not asking us for help. Somebody may need help and assistance but does not want to ask others for it. And so sometimes we have to be proactive in helping others.

This is why the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us about the importance of helping those who are suffering and those who are in need. The famous hadith:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2699)

Allah helps the slave so long as the slave helps his fellow brother or sister. So when we help others, Allah will help us. Our assistance — regardless of how small it may be — just giving someone five or ten minutes so that they can talk to you — may be the difference between them actually going through with suicide as opposed to living their lives and continuing to do righteous deeds.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, that He protects us from the harms of suicide, and that Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, protects our communities from these mental illnesses and from these plagues which affect our societies.

Closing Du'as

Indeed, Allah commands you to maintain justice and good conduct and to give to relatives. And He forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.

Remember Allah, the Most Great, the Most Majestic — He will remember you. Be grateful to Him for His blessings and He will increase you. And the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows what you do.