What is the ruling on suicide operations? Where a person loads himself with explosives and drives a car to the camp of the disbelievers and blows himself up, as is happening in

The questioner : Regarding our discussion on Hajj, one of the people asked Shaykh Muhammad Salih a question: Regarding the operations that take place in Palestine, such as blowing up cars, or a person blowing himself up in a bus or something like that, he asked him: Is it permissible to do this with the disbelievers? He askedThe Shaykh : , he saidThe Shaykh: That it is not permissible. And some of them say: It is permissible. So we wanted to ask you this question: What is your opinion, or the Sharia ruling, on the one who plants an explosive belt on his body, for example, and then blows up his car, whether it is Jews or Christians, and considers that a martyrdom operation?!

The Shaykh: Yes, I have been saying for a long time - and there are tapes - : What they call the Intifada, from its very beginning, I do not believe in it; because this Intifada does not expel the Jews from the land of Islam and the Muslims, but rather it involves the wasting of many, many lives without any expected benefit, and the reason for this is very clear; it is the withdrawal of the Islamic governments from performing their duty toward these Jews who are armed with all kinds of weapons; so what can the Palestinian people do against this state from which the Arab states were defeated? And if this defeat appeared - and Allah knows best - to have many, many reasons, among which is what concerns us, the failure to act in accordance with the content of His saying - Blessed and Exalted is He - : , so I used to say and I still say, but I have some conditions in answering this question, so I say as you quoted fromThe Shaykh : the aforementioned and others - also - from what is quoted, that this - meaning - is not permissible in Sharia from the aspect that it involves killing the soul; it is similar to what would be suicide, if we note this principle, the result is that this is not permissible, but I add a clarification and say: These suicides, either they are driven by their own selves and riding their heads; this is suicide, and it is not permissible in any way, or their launching into such operations is based on fatwas that come to them from those they think have knowledge and understanding of the Sharia, and with sincerity, good intention, and victory for Islam and the Muslim Ummah, they sacrifice their lives in the path of implementing this Sharia fatwa that was presented to them, regardless of whether it is correct or incorrect, and what concerns us is whether the launching of these youths into such suicide or martyrdom operations was an impulsive matter or was a matter stemming from a personal conviction in the fatwa of those who issue fatwas to them regarding the permissibility of these operations? If the matter is that it is from a fatwa, I do not say that these martyrs are sinful, but rather I say regarding those who issue fatwas to them, if they are issuing fatwas out of ignorance; then they are undoubtedly sinful, and if they are issuing fatwas with knowledge; then they are mistaken and they have one reward. This is my opinion in the matter - and Allah knows best - .

The questioner: May Allah reward you with good, meaning we understand that the burden and sin fall on the one who issued the fatwa.

The Shaykh: On the one who issued the fatwa.

The questioner: What about the youths?

The Shaykh: With the detail - also - .

Another questioner: They were affected by ignorance.

The Shaykh : Yes?

Another questioner: They were affected by ignorance.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner: And that they believe that this fatwa is a means of drawing near to Allah, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Who are they?

The questioner: They are those who issue fatwas to the youths that these fatwas are a means of drawing near to Allah, and that these youths who blow themselves up are going to be martyrs or as he said?

The Shaykh: We say that this sacrifice has a basis in the Sharia.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: If it stems from a Muslim ruler who rules by what Allah has revealed, we say congratulations to them; because such a thing used to happen in early Islam, those who entered the fortress, what was its name? This Jewish man, in a night as it is said: without a moon, until he entered the middle of his bedroom in the darkness and called out to him with his voice, so he woke up terrified, so he followed the voice and struck him with the sword and killed him, then he started moving from place to place in exit and flight, when he reached the bottom of the stairs, the moon had risen with its light, so he thought he had reached the ground, so he fell and his leg broke, so his companions took him, and they were from his plot, they opened the door of the fortress, and they opened it upon exiting, and they carried their companion and came to the Messenger - (peace be upon him) - , and the Messenger read and performed ruqyah on him, so his leg returned to better than it was.
Meaning, martyrdom operations have a basis in Islam, but it should not be individual operations, but rather they are ordered by the head of state, and the head of state studies the general conditions, and knows - as it is said - how to eat the shoulder, is it correct - for example - to offer such a sacrifice when its time has come or not, and so on, but the problem is that we do not have an Islamic leadership - meaning - that rules by what Allah has revealed, and this is the knot that we live today as all Muslims; we live like sheep without a shepherd, Allah is the helper.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, my Shaykh.