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Suicide (Arabic: الانتحار, al-intiḥār) refers to the conscious act of ending one's own life. This act is considered reprehensible in Divine religions as well as in most ethical and legal schools of thought.

Muslim jurists consider suicide a major sin and Haram (forbidden). However, some jurisprudential sources state that suicide is permissible in cases of necessity (iḍṭirār) or when there is a more significant interest (maslaha), such as saving the lives of Muslims.

Determining the punishment for assisting in suicide and the invalidity of the will (wasiyya) of the person committing suicide (muntahir) are among the rulings related to this issue.

Importance of the Issue

The phenomenon of suicide has attracted the attention of many divine laws and religions, as well as legal schools, all of which have attempted to combat it.[1] On the other hand, some thinkers, citing the right to freedom and human free will, have recognized a right to suicide; however, in most Divine religions and ethical and legal schools, this act is considered reprehensible, and attempting suicide is deemed a crime and a sin.[2]

Suicide is considered an ominous phenomenon and a major social calamity that has affected various human societies.[3] According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide is one of the ten leading causes of death in most countries[4] and the third leading cause of death among adolescents.[5]

The prevalence of suicide has been linked to factors such as mental and emotional disorders,[6] preservation of honor and pressure from social and religious regulations,[7] family factors such as Divorce and family breakdown,[8] social harms,[9] and weakness of religious beliefs and turning away from spirituality.[10]

Concept

Suicide (Arabic: intiḥār) conventionally means ending one's own life knowingly and voluntarily.[11] Based on jurisprudential and legal definitions, suicide is considered a voluntary act performed by a sane person to deprive themselves of life, wherein, unlike murder, the titles of the perpetrator (jānī) and the victim (majnī ʿalayh) are combined in one person.[12]

Types

Suicide can occur in two ways:

1. Active: Such as striking oneself with a sword, knife, or firearm, or ingesting poison.

2. Passive: Such as abstaining from food and water, or refusing medical treatment.[13]

Like homicide, suicide is also divided based on the intentional or unintentional intent of the perpetrator:

Intentional Suicide: Performed with the serious intent and will of the perpetrator.

Accidental (Mistake) Suicide: Where a person causes their own death while performing an act without the serious intent to kill themselves.[14]

Prohibition in Islam and Other Religions

Muslim scholars consider suicide a major sin and regard the person who commits suicide as a transgressor (fasiq).[15] Shi'a jurists have a Consensus (ijma' ) on its prohibition.[16] They also condemn it based on the judgment of reason (''aql) and the Sira of the Wise (sīrat al-ʿuqalāʾ).[17]

According to some exegetes, the Qur'an forbids suicide.[18] Among these verses is Qur'an 4:29 (The Verse of Trade), part of which states: "And do not kill yourselves" (Arabic: وَ لَا تَقْتُلُواْ أَنفُسَکمْ). Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Ardabili[19] and Nasir Makarim Shirazi[20] have interpreted this phrase as referring to suicide.

Additionally, the phrase "and do not cast yourselves with your own hands into destruction" in Qur'an 2:195 is considered to include a prohibition of all behaviors that put human life in danger.[21] Other verses, such as the covenant of God with the Children of Israel not to shed their own blood in Qur'an 2:84, and the prohibition of killing a respected soul in Qur'an 5:32, are cited as further Qur'anic evidence for the prohibition of suicide.[22]

Narrations also discuss this act and the punishment of those who commits suicide. According to a narration from the Prophet of Islam (s), anyone who kills themselves will be tormented on the Day of Judgment with the same instrument used for suicide and will dwell in Hell forever.[23] similarly, in a hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a), it is reported that intentional suicide leads to affliction with the fire of Hell.[24]

Other Religions and Schools

According to Allama Tabataba'i in Tafsir al-Mizan, suicide is forbidden by the teachings of all Divine religions and laws.[25] In Judaism, this act is reprehensible, and it is forbidden to bury those who commit suicide alongside other Jews.[26] In the Christian Bible, those who commit suicide are also condemned.[27] In Christianity, suicide is treated as a form of murder, and a person who commits suicide is not given a formal religious burial.[28] In ancient Greece, suicide was also considered improper .[29]

Jurisprudential Rulings

Rulings related to suicide are mostly discussed in jurisprudential sources under the chapters of Intentional Homicide and Wills.

Assisting in Suicide

Two opinions have been expressed regarding assistance in suicide: Some jurists believe in the establishment of Qisas (retaliation) for the participant, albeit with the payment of half the Diya (blood money) by the family of the deceased.[30] Others argue that since the victim participated in their own death, the partner is not subject to Qisas and only Diya becomes obligatory upon them.[31]

Euthanasia and Suicide

According to the Fatwa of jurists, if a patient takes medication to end their own life, this is considered suicide and is Haram.[32] One type of Euthanasia[33] is to place drugs within the patient's reach so that they may end their life by consuming them;[34] this is also forbidden.

Non-Obligation to Fulfill the Will

According to the fatwa of jurists, if a person makes a will before attempting suicide, their will must be executed; however, if they make a will after inflicting a wound that leads to death, acting upon it is not necessary.[35]

Cases of Permissibility

In some jurisprudential sources, suicide is considered permissible due to necessity (iḍṭirār) or the existence of a greater interest, such as saving the lives of Muslims.[36] For example, some jurists such as Makārim Shīrāzī and Ḥusayn ʿAlī Muntaẓarī have deemed suicide may be permissible for a Muslim prisoner who is in the hands of the enemy and cannot endure torture or protect the secrets of Muslims, in order to prevent severe damage to Muslims.[37]

Furthermore, some jurists consider carrying out martyrdom operations, even if considered as a form of suicide, to be permissible and an instance of defensive Jihad if it is for a more important obligation such as striking the enemies of Islam or defending Muslims.[38]

Jurists have also discussed issues such as the lack of excuse for suicide even under Duress (ikrāh)[39] and the dropping of Diya (blood money).[40]

Notes

  1. ↑ Shahīdī, "Intiḥār", p. 33.
  2. ↑ Durkheim, Khūd-kushī, 1378 Sh, pp. 149-159; Muḥsinī, Jāmiʿa-shināsī-yi inḥirāfāt-i ijtimāʿī, 1386 Sh, pp. 202-209; Gulāb-bakhsh & Kāẓimī, "Khūd-kushī", p. 403.
  3. ↑ Kay-niyā, Mabānī-yi jurm-shināsī, 1376 Sh, vol. 1, pp. 429-454.
  4. ↑ Riḍāʾiyān, "Pīshgīrī az khūd-kushī dar kishwarhā-yi dar ḥāl-i tawsiʿa", p. 441.
  5. ↑ Cornelison, Darmān-i masāʾil-i jawānān wa nawjawānān, 1376 Sh, p. 246.
  6. ↑ Sharīʿatī Rūdsarī, "Khūd-kushī wa ʿilal wa... (2)", p. 45; Aḥmadzāda, "Khūd-kushī wa ʿilal-i ān", p. 43.
  7. ↑ Aḥmadzāda, "Khūd-kushī wa ʿilal-i ān", p. 43.
  8. ↑ Sharīʿatī Rūdsarī, "Khūd-kushī wa ʿilal wa... (3)", pp. 18-19.
  9. ↑ Sharīʿatī Rūdsarī, "Khūd-kushī (1)", p. 44.
  10. ↑ Sharīʿatī Rūdsarī, "Khūd-kushī, ʿilal wa... (3)", pp. 21-22; Riḍāʾiyān, "Epidemiology-yi khūd-kushī", p. 1978.
  11. ↑ Anwarī, Farhang-i buzurg-i sukhan, under the word; ʿAmīd, Farhang-i Fārsī-yi ʿAmīd, under the word.
  12. ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, 1419 AH, p. 91; Āqāyī-niyā, Ḥuqūq-i kayfarī-yi ikhtiṣāṣī: jarāyim ʿalayh-i ashkhāṣ, 1389 Sh, pp. 26-28; Nūrī, "Khūd-kushī", pp. 82-83; Gulāb-bakhsh & Kāẓimī, "Khūd-kushī", pp. 402-403.
  13. ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, 1419 AH, p. 91.
  14. ↑ Muḥaqqiq Dāmād, Fiqh-i pizishkī, 1391 Sh, pp. 197-198.
  15. ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, 1419 AH, p. 91.
  16. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, 1404 AH, vol. 36, p. 370; Subḥānī, Al-Rasāʾil al-arbaʿ, 1415 AH, vol. 2, p. 167.
  17. ↑ Subḥānī, Al-Rasāʾil al-arbaʿ, 1415 AH, vol. 2, p. 198.
  18. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, 1390 AH, vol. 4, p. 320; Ardabīlī, Zubdat al-bayān, p. 428.
  19. ↑ Ardabīlī, Zubdat al-bayān, p. 428.
  20. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i namūna, 1371 Sh, vol. 3, p. 356.
  21. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, 1390 AH, vol. 2, p. 64; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i namūna, 1371 Sh, vol. 2, p. 36.
  22. ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, Al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, 1420 AH, vol. 3, p. 591; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, 1390 AH, vol. 5, p. 315; Mīrzāda, "Khūd-kushī", p. 314.
  23. ↑ Ibn Ḥanbal, Musnad Aḥmad, vol. 2, p. 478; Dārimī, Sunan al-Dārimī, p. 192.
  24. ↑ Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, 1413 AH, vol. 3, p. 572.
  25. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, 1390 AH, vol. 7, p. 372.
  26. ↑ Gulāb-bakhsh & Kāẓimī, "Khūd-kushī", p. 403.
  27. ↑ Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 27.
  28. ↑ Muḥaqqiq Dāmād, Fiqh-i pizishkī, 1389 Sh, p. 183; Shahīdī, "Intiḥār", p. 34.
  29. ↑ Muḥaqqiq Dāmād, Fiqh-i pizishkī, 1389 Sh, p. 183.
  30. ↑ ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, Taḥrīr al-aḥkām, 1420 AH, vol. 5, p. 437.
  31. ↑ Ṭūsī, Al-Mabsūṭ, 1387 AH, vol. 7, pp. 22-23.
  32. ↑ See: Muntaẓarī, Aḥkām-i pizishkī, p. 123; Qāsimī, Dānishnāma-yi fiqh-i pizishkī, vol. 3, p. 303.
  33. ↑ Euthanasia means killing another person out of compassion due to the presence of an incurable and painful disease in that person. (Yazdānī-far, Euthanasia az manẓar-i fiqh wa ḥuqūq, 1393 Sh, p. 28.)
  34. ↑ Qāsimī, Dānishnāma-yi fiqh-i pizishkī, 1395 Sh, vol. 3, p. 323.
  35. ↑ Ṭūsī, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, 1407 AH, vol. 9, p. 207; Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al-afhām, 1413 AH, vol. 6, p. 142; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, 1404 AH, vol. 28, p. 275; Imām Khumaynī, Najāt al-ʿibād, 1409 AH, pp. 311-312.
  36. ↑ Islāmī-tabār & Ilāhī-manish, Masāʾil-i akhlāqī dar qatl-i taraḥḥum-āmīz, pp. 207-209.
  37. ↑ Muntaẓarī, Dirāsāt fī wilāyat al-faqīh, 1409 AH, vol. 2, pp. 583-584; Makārim Shīrāzī, Istiftāʾāt-i jadīd, 1427 AH, vol. 1, pp. 531-532.
  38. ↑ Muntaẓarī, Mujāzāt-hā-yi Islāmī wa ḥuqūq-i bashar, 1429 AH, p. 92; Makārim Shīrāzī, Istiftāʾāt-i jadīd, 1427 AH, vol. 3, p. 353; Fīraḥī, "Difāʿ-i mashrūʿ, terror wa ʿamaliyyāt-i shahādat-ṭalabāna dar madhhab-i Shīʿa", pp. 113-115, 123-124; Warʿī, "Mabānī-yi fiqhī-yi ʿamaliyyāt-i shahādat-ṭalabāna", pp. 319-321, 329-332.
  39. ↑ Ṭūsī, Al-Mabsūṭ, 1387 AH, vol. 7, p. 43; Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, 1408 AH, vol. 4, p. 186; Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al-afhām, 1413 AH, vol. 15, p. 89.
  40. ↑ Ṭūsī, Al-Mabsūṭ, 1378 AH, vol. 7, pp. 178-179, 195; Ibn Idrīs, Al-Sarāʾir, 1410 AH, vol. 3, p. 400; Ṭabrisī, Al-Muʾtalif, 1410 AH, vol. 2, p. 358.

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