Suicide and (Homicide) Bombing: Ibadi view and the Sunni view. Which is the stronger deterrent?

Suicide and (Homicide) Bombing: Ibadi view and the Sunni view. Which is the stronger deterrent?

“Believers! Do not devour one another’s possessions wrongfully; rather than that, let there be trading by mutual consent. You should not kill yourselves. Surely Allah is ever Compassionate to you. And whoever does this by way of transgression and injustice him shall We surely cast into the Fire; that indeed is quite easy for Allah.” (Qur’an 4:29-30)

“And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden to be killed except by legal right. This has He instructed you that you may use reason.” (Qur’an 6:151)

“Allah does not burden a soul except what it can bear”. (Qur’an 2:286)

“For indeed, with hardship will be ease. Indeed, with hardship will be ease.”(Qur’an 94:5-6)

“And your Lord says, “Call upon Me; I will respond to you.” Indeed, those who disdain My worship will enter Hell rendered contemptible.” (Qur’an 40:60)

You also have these two ahadith which are attributed to the Blessed Messenger (saw) in Al Bukhari.

Abu Hurayrah: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Whoever purposely throws himself from a mountain and kills himself, will be in the Fire falling down into it and abiding therein perpetually forever; and whoever drinks poison and kills himself with it, he will be carrying his poison in his hand and drinking it in the Fire wherein he will abide eternally forever; and whoever kills himself with an iron weapon, will be carrying that weapon in his hand and stabbing his abdomen with it in the Fire wherein he will abide eternally forever.” 

Source: (Al-Bukhari – Book 71 Hadith 670)

Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “He who commits suicide by throttling shall keep on throttling himself in the Hell-Fire and he who commits suicide by stabbing himself shall keep on stabbing himself in the Hell-Fire.”

Source: (Al-Bukhari – Book 23 Hadith 446)

From the two ahadith above we learn a few things:

1. Suicide must be worse than/equal to the sin of shirk according to the  Sunni because there is no chance for repentance for it.
2. Proof that the punishment of hellfire or for the sin of suicide is forever,
3. Proof that the punishment of hellfire forever is for ‘whoever‘- Muslim or not.

Those from the Sunni who now come and say that ‘whoever’ doesn’t refer to Muslims will come across as desperate. It would be like arguing that the second hadith is a reference only to men and not women as it says, ‘He who commits suicide’. Such argumentation comes across as a hopeless attempt to defend one’s crumbling position over such lucid text.

In fact the text (ahadith) above are so clear that our Sunni brothers had to go to some lengths to detract from the obvious and apparent. Even to the extent to say these were interpolations in the text!

https://islamweb.net/en/fatwa/5671/will-a-muslim-who-commits-suicide-be-in-hell-forever

Who can condemn suicide (homicide) bombing with more force and theological conviction?

YOU BE THE JUDGE!

Objectively which group is going to be stronger against suicide (homicide) bombing and terrorism?

Who is going to have a greater impact on young impressionable minds?

The Muslims, The People of The Truth and Steadfastness (Ahl Al Haqq Wal Istiqamah) says, “If you commit suicide (homicide) bombing if you kill these innocent men and women, non combatants, if you blow up a bus with children, if you go into that place of worship and gun down people praying you are going to hell, wherein you will not escape and there will be no reprieve for you!”

Or the group (The Sunni-Salafi-Sufi-Athari-Ashari) says, “If you commit suicide (homicide) bombing if you kill these innocent men and women, non combatants, if you blow up a bus with children, if you go into that place of worship and gun down people praying we condemn you, you may go to hell for a little while but you will still go to heaven because you said the Shahadah and the Prophet will intercede on your behalf.”

Think about it. Someone who wants to commit suicide(homicide) bombing has already written this world off anyway, then the Sunni promise them paradise?!

It is music to their ears!

All the fatwa in the world from Shaykh Bin Bayyah, Shaykh Muhammed Al Yaqoubi, or even the 512-page magnum opus written by Tahir Ul Qadri is not going to be enough to dissuade such people with the theological convictions that are held.

One is a very strong condemnation to eternal hellfire and the other…

a slap on the wrist and a public relations apology on behalf of the community.

This is not rocket science.  Which by the way I would highly encourage you to read this article: https://www.newsweek.com/2017/02/17/oman-sultan-qaboos-terrorism-isis-al-qaeda-548682.html

I also write from the perspective of someone who has lost people to suicide. One of them was actually my best friend in high school. I cannot even begin to tell you the anguish I feel in my heart and in my soul over his loss. I love him and I’ll always love him. I was in another state when I got a call from a family member that mentioned that he had hung himself in his garage.

So anyone who doesn’t think I have a personal stake invested in this position is sadly mistaken. You couldn’t be more wrong.

So I was thinking to be fair to the Sunni I was going to say that they would be more theologically equipped to give comfort to someone’s family in such a position. However, even then that would depend.

1. If the person is a non Muslim they would be in hellfire forever. (Allah knows best)
2. However, if the person committed suicide as a Muslim the best they can possibly offer is their theological position that the person will be repeating the same suicidal act (for an unspecified amount of time), in hellfire than finally released into paradise.

Yet, as we have seen from the Qur’an and from the two ahadith cited above there is no scope for them to argue point 2.

All they can do is ignore the lucid text and resort to 30-page write-ups on the ‘should have‘ , ‘could have‘ and ‘would have‘ been scenarios.

Shirk is the greatest sin one can do -that they can still repent from. Just like any other sin. Because to despair of the mercy of Allah (swt) is also a sin.

“O my sons, go and inquire about Yusuf and his brother, and do not despair of relief from Allah; surely none despairs of relief from Allah except the ungrateful (kafiruna) people.” (Qur’an 12:87)

However, someone who has committed suicide even if they did small sins, they themselves have closed the doors to mercy and repentance. The act of committing suicide is a great sin as they have despaired of relief from Allah (swt).

So, no suicide is not a greater sin than shirk, but it is a sin in which the person has closed the doors for repentance on themselves.

“Believers! Do not devour one another’s possessions wrongfully; rather than that, let there be trading by mutual consent. You should not kill yourselves. Surely Allah is ever Compassionate to you. And whoever does this by way of transgression and injustice him shall We surely cast into the Fire; that indeed is quite easy for Allah. (Qur’an 4:29-30)

Comment: Again no one has desperately argued that the ‘whoever‘ above is a reference only to Non-Muslims.

“These are the Signs of Allah. We rehearse them to thee in Truth: And Allah means no injustice to any of His creatures.” (Qur’an 3:108)

So again we need to ask the Sunni.

1. Where is there any verse in the Qur’an that says a believer will enter the hellfire? A single one will suffice.
2. Where is there any verse in the Qur’an that says sinners will come out of the hellfire? A single one will suffice.
3. Where is there any verse that says the unrepentant sinners will enter the paradise? A single one will suffice.

In closing, I wanted to say that Alhamdulillah that studies have shown that Muslim majority nations have the lowest suicide rates of all nations. Other studies have shown that we even have the lowest suicide rates compared to other religious communities.

It should also be noted that the Muslims, The People of The Truth and Steadfastness (Ahl Al Haqq Wal Istiqamah) , we need the specifics and details as much as possible of the condition under which a person committed suicide. If this person was mentally unstable they are not held accountable. Alas, the hukm (judgment) belongs to Allah (swt). We can only make judgement upon the dhahir (the apparent). Whereas Allah (swt) makes the full judgement based upon the apparent and the hidden. 

Suicide goes against the fitra of all living things. There is not besides human beings a single living thing on this planet that sees itself as disconnected from everything else killing itself out of despair. That is something to contemplate.

Yet we all need to do more collectively to end the stigma against mental health. May we rue the day when Muslim majority nations are filled with nursing homes -understood if a person is beyond family care-but shameful if it is a means to dump off one’s parents. Old people get lonely, lonely people are lonely. People need to know that there is hope in any given situation. People need help to relieve financial burdens and stress.

“And your Lord says, “Call upon Me; I will respond to you.” Indeed, those who disdain My worship will enter Hell rendered contemptible.” (Qur’an 40:60)

“Call upon Me; I will respond to you.”

No matter what you may have done. Your sins are not greater than Allah’s mercy. No matter what crisis you are facing understand this: A man in a boat in the middle of a vast ocean with no food or water is in no more need of Allah (swt) than a man in a fortress on solid ground, protected by a vast army. That is how fragile is our state. Allah (swt) can change our condition and our reliance is upon Allah (swt).