the-islamic-ruling-on-the-permissibility-of-self-sacrificial-operations-suicide-or-martyrdom

quiver and place it in <strong>the</strong> middle of <strong>the</strong> bow, and say, ‘In <strong>the</strong> Name of Allāh, <strong>the</strong> Lord of <strong>the</strong> boy,’
<strong>the</strong>n shoot me [with <strong>the</strong> arrow]. If you do that, you will [be able to] kill me.”
So [<strong>the</strong> King] ga<strong>the</strong>red all <strong>the</strong> people in a single plain and tied him to a [tree] trunk. He <strong>the</strong>n
took an arrow from his quiver, placed it in <strong>the</strong> middle of <strong>the</strong> bow, said, “In <strong>the</strong> Name of Allāh,
<strong>the</strong> Lord of <strong>the</strong> boy,” and fired <strong>the</strong> arrow. The arrow hit his temple. [The boy] placed his hand
on his temple, and <strong>the</strong>n died. So <strong>the</strong> people said, “We believe in <strong>the</strong> Lord of <strong>the</strong> boy, we believe in
<strong>the</strong> Lord of <strong>the</strong> boy, we believe in <strong>the</strong> Lord of <strong>the</strong> boy.”
The King was <strong>the</strong>n told, “Do you see what you feared By Allāh, that which you feared has happened!
The people have believed [in <strong>the</strong> Lord of <strong>the</strong> boy].” So [<strong>the</strong> King] ordered for ditches [to be dug] at
<strong>the</strong> junctions of all <strong>the</strong> roads. When <strong>the</strong>y were dug, fires were lit in <strong>the</strong>m and [<strong>the</strong> King] said,
“Whoever does not renounce his religion, <strong>the</strong>n throw him in [<strong>the</strong> fire], or tell <strong>the</strong>m to jump into it.” So this
was what happened, until a woman came carrying a baby, and she hesitated to jump into <strong>the</strong>
fire, so her child said to her, “O Mo<strong>the</strong>r! Have patience, for you are upon <strong>the</strong> Truth!”“ 108
So in this, <strong>the</strong>re is evidence for <strong>the</strong> correctness for <strong>the</strong>se martyrdom operations that <strong>the</strong>
Mujāhidūn in <strong>the</strong> Path of Allāh perform; those who are waging <strong>the</strong> war against <strong>the</strong> Jews and
Christians and those who make mischief in <strong>the</strong> Earth.
This is because, <strong>the</strong> boy showed <strong>the</strong> king <strong>the</strong> means with which to kill him, after <strong>the</strong> king
was unable to do that after trying unsuccessfully and seeking <strong>the</strong> help of <strong>the</strong> soldiers and
aids. So this action of <strong>the</strong> boy shows that he caused <strong>the</strong> killing of his own self, and he took a
part of killing himself. And that which proves <strong>the</strong> unity of <strong>the</strong> action of <strong>the</strong> young boy and
<strong>the</strong> martyrdom operations, is something which is clear and obvious – For indeed, indirectly
causing <strong>the</strong> death of a soul, carries <strong>the</strong> same <strong>ruling</strong> as directly killing a soul.
And <strong>the</strong> goal of <strong>the</strong>se two actions (of <strong>the</strong> young boy, and of martyrdom operations) is
making <strong>the</strong> truth victorious and supporting it, and inflicting harm upon <strong>the</strong> Jews and
Christians and <strong>the</strong> mushrikīn and <strong>the</strong>ir allies, and weakening <strong>the</strong>ir strengths and striking terror
into <strong>the</strong>ir souls.
And <strong>the</strong> benefit (Maslahah) requires that <strong>the</strong> Mujāhidīn sacrifice one or more of <strong>the</strong>ir men in
order to inflict damage on <strong>the</strong> disbelievers and terrorizing <strong>the</strong>m and weakening <strong>the</strong>ir
strengths. He, <strong>the</strong> Most High, said:
‏﴿وأ َعِدوا ْ ل َهم ما استط َعتم من ق ُوةٍ‏ ومِن رباطِ‏ ال ْخيلِ‏ ترهِبون َ بِهِ‏ عدو الل ّهِ‏ وعدوك ُم ﴾
108 Cited by Muslim in The Book of Piety and Heart-Softeners (130), and this is his wording. It is
also cited by Ahmad (6/17), Al-Tirmidhī in The Book of Exegesis #340, and Al-Nasā’ī, also in The
Book of Exegesis, as it appears in Tuhfat Al-Ashrāf (4/199). For <strong>the</strong> full Hadīth, and its explanation,
refer to <strong>the</strong> book by At-Tibyān Publications, “The People of <strong>the</strong> Ditch”.
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