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Committing Suicide

Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

 

 

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

This question is regarding the issue of 'There is no escape from the appointment of death':

a) What if a person shoots himself in the head and commits suicide? Is that written for him in his book by Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala?
b) Why do we have doctors and hospitals today? They cannot save any being's life, so what is their purpose then?

 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

 

Answer:

 

Committing Suicide

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and who-ever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

 

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 7 Surah Aaraf verse 34: Every community has been given a fixed term. When the term expires, it can neither be put back nor put forward by a single hour.

 

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale-Imran verse 145: No human being can ever die save by Allah’s leave, and the time of death has been pre-ordained!

 

Thus it is extremely clear in light of the guidance of the Holy Quran, that no one can die, except with the permission of Allah Subhanah. Do you know how many people all across the world try to commit suicide every day? Only a small percentage of them actually succeed! People shoot themselves, but miss! People jump from tall buildings, but survive! People ram into moving cars and trains, and survive! People cut off their blood veins, then survive! People take an overdose of drugs and pills to commit suicide, but some survive! Can you imagine, one cannot even take his own life, even if he wants to, unless Allah Subhanah allows him to! The time and place of death is pre-ordained, and no one can die except at the exact appointed time by Allah Subhanah. Thus if someone shoots himself and dies, then yes, it has happened with the permission of Allah. And Allah gives his permission to things in this world, not because He is happy with everything that is happening, but because we are here for a test for a limited time. Then once when this test is over, we will all be presented in the court of Allah for an inevitable accounting.

 

Regarding the second question about having doctors and hospitals, please note that Allah has not made known to man his time of death. If the death of a person is ordained, no combination of doctors and hospitals can save the man’s life! But because we do not know every man’s time of death, we are encouraged in Islam to use every means and ‘sabab’ possible to cherish this gift of life. Use every kind of medicine and care available, take every kind of advice and precaution available, do everything humanly possible to save oneself, and then put your trust in Allah.

 

Islam does not teach us to leave all the doors and windows unlocked in our house in a bad neighbourhood, and put our trust in Allah, that we will not be broken into! Islam teaches us to plan everything, guard our houses, lock our doors and windows, and then put our trust in Allah Subhanah to protect us, and only then be rest assured that Allah is enough as our Protector. A good example here would be the life of the Messenger of Allah (saws). When Allah commanded him to migrate from Makkah to Medina, the Prophet (saws) planned everything, went north instead of west to fool his enemies, and stayed three nights in a cave with his companion, so that his enemies would call off their search. After he had taken all these precautions and planned his escape meticulously, he put his trust in Allah. He did not stay at home without planning and escape in broad daylight in front of the enemies saying it was pre-ordained whether he was going to be caught or not. He took every possible precaution he could, and then put his trust in Allah.

 

We know from experience that the doctors and hospitals of this world do not ordain life and death. We should go to the doctors and hospitals, not to cheat the angel of death, but only because we do not have knowledge of our time of death, and because we are encouraged in Islam to do everything in our means to save ourselves and our loved ones.

 

May Allah guide you and us all to the Straight Path of Islam.

 

May Allah guide you and us all to the Siraat al-Mustaqeem

 

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

 

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

 

 

Burhan

 

 

 

 

 


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