The hadith: "Whoever kills himself with a blade, his blade is in his hand, and he stabs himself with it in the Fire of Hell, abiding therein forever, eternally."
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The Shaykh : Yes?
The questioner : Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
O esteemed Shaykh, may Allah reward you with good. In the hadith of Abu Hurayrah in the two Sahihs, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2044Sahih (Darussalam) What is intended by this eternity?
Is it the eternity of the one who kills himself in the Fire?
And does this imply that it is not one of the major sins?
And if it is due to disbelief, is it permissible to pray for his mercy?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment:
This is an important, indeed a crucial, question. It is important and crucial because sometimes in the Book and the Sunnah, there are texts that open the door to wide hope and optimism. For example, there are righteous deeds that are linked to the expiation of sins, or linked to entering Paradise, or the like. So a person rejoices and feels hopeful and says: "Then a sin will not harm me as long as this small deed expiates my sins, or as long as I enter Paradise through it. So I will do whatever sins I please." And sometimes there are texts containing severe warnings regarding some sins or some major sins. In reality, they are major sins, but they do not take one out of Islam. So you find the man hesitating and stopping, saying, "What is this?"
Therefore, the people of the Qiblah, meaning the Muslims who claim affiliation with Islam, divided into three groups regarding these texts:
One group emphasized the texts of hope and said: "A sin does not harm with Islam." These are the Murji'ah. They emphasize the side of hope over the side of fear, and they say: "You are a believer, do what you please, a sin will not harm you with faith."
Another group emphasized the texts of warning and deterrence, and they said: "The doer of major sins is eternally abiding in the Fire of Hell, even if he is a believer, even if he prays, pays zakah, fasts, and performs Hajj." These are the Wa'idiyyah from the Mu'tazilah and the Khawarij. They said: "If a person commits a major sin, such as killing himself, for example, or killing another person, or committing zina, or stealing, he is eternally abiding in the Fire of Hell."
All of these groups deviated from the truth, neither the first group nor these.
And the people of the Sunnah and the community are moderate in this. They said: "We take all the texts, because the Shari'ah is one Shari'ah, issued by One, and He is Allah (Mighty and Majestic), either in His Book or on the tongue of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). If that is the case, then they complete one another, restrict one another, and specify one another. A general text and a specific text come, so it is obligatory to apply the general to the specific and specify it with it. An absolute text and a restricted text come, so it is obligatory to apply the absolute to the restricted, because the Shari'ah is one and the Legislator is One. If that is the case, it is not possible to take one side without the other. Based on this, a person is saved from many problems. It is said: "It is mentioned in the Qur'an:[An-Nisa 4:93] These are five punishments:
His reward is the Fire, abiding therein, and the anger of Allah upon him, and His curse, and He has prepared for him a tremendous punishment.
When you read this verse, you say: "The one who intentionally kills a believer is eternally abiding in the Fire, and it is not possible for him to come out of it, because Allah said:[An-Nisa 4:93], and the one whom Allah has cursed means He has expelled him and distanced him from His mercy. This implies that it is not possible for him to come out of the Fire to Paradise. Likewise, what the questioner referred to regarding the one who kills himself, that he is abiding, eternally abiding, forever. He explicitly stated eternity, and this implies that he will not come out of it, because this is a report from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and the report of the Messenger is truth, and it is not possible for lying to affect it, and it is not possible for its meaning to be unfulfilled. For this reason, we say: These things become a cause:
Killing the soul is a cause for eternal abiding in the Fire of Hell, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said. But there is a preventer that prevents abiding, indicated by the texts, which is that if a person has something of faith, even the least, the least, the least, the weight of a mustard seed of faith, he will not abide eternally in the Fire. So we apply these texts to these texts, and we say: These came in this general form, meaning: the texts of warning, in order to deter from this deed and flee from it, but there is no eternal abiding except for the disbelievers. This is one aspect.
The second aspect: Some scholars say: These texts are according to their apparent meaning, and that is that the one who kills himself may be afflicted with the stripping away of faith, so he is not a believer when he kills himself. And if he is not a believer, he is a disbeliever, abiding in the Fire, because for example, if he slaughters himself, for any reason, it must be for a reason. If he is insane, there is nothing on him, there is no problem. And if he is sane, there must be a reason, and the reason:
Is that he wants to be relieved from the distress that befell him. And whoever claims that if he kills himself he will be saved from the distress that befell him, he has denied the resurrection and denied the punishment of the Hereafter. And if he denies the resurrection and the punishment of the Hereafter, he becomes a disbeliever thereby, and he becomes deserving of eternal abiding in the Fire, because it is not reasonable that a person destroys himself to be relieved from what he is in, except for his assumption that he will move to what is more comfortable for him. And it is not possible for it to be more comfortable for him after he has killed himself, so this person is a doubter, or hesitant, or a denier of the punishment of the Hereafter, and thereby he is a disbeliever.
In any case, the important thing is that it is obligatory for us to know that the Book and the Sunnah were issued from Allah alone. Some of it is from His speech (Exalted and Majestic is He), like the Qur'an, and some of it is from the speech of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And some of it restricts some of it, and some of it specifies some of it, and there is no contradiction in them. Yes.
The questioner : Is he prayed for with mercy, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Yes, yes, he is prayed for with mercy. One says: "O Allah, forgive him, O Allah, have mercy on him," because he is not a disbeliever. Yes.
The questioner : Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
O esteemed Shaykh, may Allah reward you with good. In the hadith of Abu Hurayrah in the two Sahihs, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Whoever kills himself with (an instrument of)iron, his iron will be in his hand, to continually stab himself in his stomach with it, in the fire of Jahannam, dwelling in that state eternally. And whoever kills himself with poison, then his poison will be in his hand, to continually take it in the Fire of Jahannam, dwelling in that state eternally. And whoever throws himself from a mountain to kill himself, then he will be continually throwing himself in the Fire of Jahannam, dwelling in that state eternally.
من قتل نفسه بحديدة فحديدته في يده يتوجأ بها في بطنه في نار جهنم خالدا مخلدا فيها أبدًا، ومن قتل نفسه بسمّ فسمّه بيده يتحسّاه في نار جهنّم خالدا مخلدا فيها أبدا ومن تردّى من جبل فقتل نفسه فهو يتردّى في نار جهنّم خالدا مخلّدا فيها أبدًاIs it the eternity of the one who kills himself in the Fire?
And does this imply that it is not one of the major sins?
And if it is due to disbelief, is it permissible to pray for his mercy?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment:
This is an important, indeed a crucial, question. It is important and crucial because sometimes in the Book and the Sunnah, there are texts that open the door to wide hope and optimism. For example, there are righteous deeds that are linked to the expiation of sins, or linked to entering Paradise, or the like. So a person rejoices and feels hopeful and says: "Then a sin will not harm me as long as this small deed expiates my sins, or as long as I enter Paradise through it. So I will do whatever sins I please." And sometimes there are texts containing severe warnings regarding some sins or some major sins. In reality, they are major sins, but they do not take one out of Islam. So you find the man hesitating and stopping, saying, "What is this?"
Therefore, the people of the Qiblah, meaning the Muslims who claim affiliation with Islam, divided into three groups regarding these texts:
One group emphasized the texts of hope and said: "A sin does not harm with Islam." These are the Murji'ah. They emphasize the side of hope over the side of fear, and they say: "You are a believer, do what you please, a sin will not harm you with faith."
Another group emphasized the texts of warning and deterrence, and they said: "The doer of major sins is eternally abiding in the Fire of Hell, even if he is a believer, even if he prays, pays zakah, fasts, and performs Hajj." These are the Wa'idiyyah from the Mu'tazilah and the Khawarij. They said: "If a person commits a major sin, such as killing himself, for example, or killing another person, or committing zina, or stealing, he is eternally abiding in the Fire of Hell."
All of these groups deviated from the truth, neither the first group nor these.
And the people of the Sunnah and the community are moderate in this. They said: "We take all the texts, because the Shari'ah is one Shari'ah, issued by One, and He is Allah (Mighty and Majestic), either in His Book or on the tongue of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). If that is the case, then they complete one another, restrict one another, and specify one another. A general text and a specific text come, so it is obligatory to apply the general to the specific and specify it with it. An absolute text and a restricted text come, so it is obligatory to apply the absolute to the restricted, because the Shari'ah is one and the Legislator is One. If that is the case, it is not possible to take one side without the other. Based on this, a person is saved from many problems. It is said: "It is mentioned in the Qur'an:
But whoever kills a believer intentionally - his recompense is Hell, wherein he will abide eternally, and Allah has become angry with him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a great punishment.
وَمَنْ يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِناً مُتَعَمِّداً فَجَزَاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِداً فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَاباً عَظِيماًHis reward is the Fire, abiding therein, and the anger of Allah upon him, and His curse, and He has prepared for him a tremendous punishment.
When you read this verse, you say: "The one who intentionally kills a believer is eternally abiding in the Fire, and it is not possible for him to come out of it, because Allah said:
and Allah has become angry with him and has cursed him
وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُKilling the soul is a cause for eternal abiding in the Fire of Hell, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said. But there is a preventer that prevents abiding, indicated by the texts, which is that if a person has something of faith, even the least, the least, the least, the weight of a mustard seed of faith, he will not abide eternally in the Fire. So we apply these texts to these texts, and we say: These came in this general form, meaning: the texts of warning, in order to deter from this deed and flee from it, but there is no eternal abiding except for the disbelievers. This is one aspect.
The second aspect: Some scholars say: These texts are according to their apparent meaning, and that is that the one who kills himself may be afflicted with the stripping away of faith, so he is not a believer when he kills himself. And if he is not a believer, he is a disbeliever, abiding in the Fire, because for example, if he slaughters himself, for any reason, it must be for a reason. If he is insane, there is nothing on him, there is no problem. And if he is sane, there must be a reason, and the reason:
Is that he wants to be relieved from the distress that befell him. And whoever claims that if he kills himself he will be saved from the distress that befell him, he has denied the resurrection and denied the punishment of the Hereafter. And if he denies the resurrection and the punishment of the Hereafter, he becomes a disbeliever thereby, and he becomes deserving of eternal abiding in the Fire, because it is not reasonable that a person destroys himself to be relieved from what he is in, except for his assumption that he will move to what is more comfortable for him. And it is not possible for it to be more comfortable for him after he has killed himself, so this person is a doubter, or hesitant, or a denier of the punishment of the Hereafter, and thereby he is a disbeliever.
In any case, the important thing is that it is obligatory for us to know that the Book and the Sunnah were issued from Allah alone. Some of it is from His speech (Exalted and Majestic is He), like the Qur'an, and some of it is from the speech of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And some of it restricts some of it, and some of it specifies some of it, and there is no contradiction in them. Yes.
The questioner : Is he prayed for with mercy, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Yes, yes, he is prayed for with mercy. One says: "O Allah, forgive him, O Allah, have mercy on him," because he is not a disbeliever. Yes.