What do you say about the suicide operations carried out in Palestine?
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The questioner : Some of the suicide operations in Palestine organized by the Hamas movement have been declared permissible by some scholars. What is your opinion?
The Shaykh : We see that suicide operations in which a person is certain that he will die are forbidden, and indeed they are among the major sins. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us that whoever kills himself with something will be punished with it in the Fire of Hell, and he did not make any exception; rather, it is a general ruling. Also, jihad in the path of Allah is intended to protect Islam and Muslims, whereas this suicide bomber destroys himself and, by his suicide, deprives the Muslims of one of their members. Furthermore, it entails harm to others, because the enemy will not limit itself to killing one person; rather, if possible, it will kill nations because of it. Also, this partial suicide, which may kill ten, twenty, or thirty people, results in great harm due to the tightening of restrictions on Muslims, as is the current reality for the Palestinians with the Jews.
And the statement of those who say that this is permissible is not based on a principle; rather, it is based on a defective opinion in reality, because the bad outcome is many times greater than what is achieved by this. They have no proof in the story of al-Bara' ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) during the Battle of Yamamah, where he ordered his companions to throw him over the wall so that he could open the door for them. The story of al-Bara' does not involve a hundred percent likelihood of death, and therefore he survived, opened the door, and the people entered. So there is no proof in it.
It remains to be said: What do we say about these specific individuals who resorted to this act? We say: These are people who interpret the ruling (ta'wil) or follow those who issued a fatwa to them without knowledge. The punishment we mentioned does not apply to them, because, as I told you, they are interpreting the ruling or following this fatwa. The sin of a fatwa that contradicts the Shari'ah lies with the one who issued it.
The Shaykh : We see that suicide operations in which a person is certain that he will die are forbidden, and indeed they are among the major sins. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us that whoever kills himself with something will be punished with it in the Fire of Hell, and he did not make any exception; rather, it is a general ruling. Also, jihad in the path of Allah is intended to protect Islam and Muslims, whereas this suicide bomber destroys himself and, by his suicide, deprives the Muslims of one of their members. Furthermore, it entails harm to others, because the enemy will not limit itself to killing one person; rather, if possible, it will kill nations because of it. Also, this partial suicide, which may kill ten, twenty, or thirty people, results in great harm due to the tightening of restrictions on Muslims, as is the current reality for the Palestinians with the Jews.
And the statement of those who say that this is permissible is not based on a principle; rather, it is based on a defective opinion in reality, because the bad outcome is many times greater than what is achieved by this. They have no proof in the story of al-Bara' ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) during the Battle of Yamamah, where he ordered his companions to throw him over the wall so that he could open the door for them. The story of al-Bara' does not involve a hundred percent likelihood of death, and therefore he survived, opened the door, and the people entered. So there is no proof in it.
It remains to be said: What do we say about these specific individuals who resorted to this act? We say: These are people who interpret the ruling (ta'wil) or follow those who issued a fatwa to them without knowledge. The punishment we mentioned does not apply to them, because, as I told you, they are interpreting the ruling or following this fatwa. The sin of a fatwa that contradicts the Shari'ah lies with the one who issued it.