Jama'at-e-Islami Pakistan has declared that suicide attacks at places of worship, as well as elsewhere, are Haram (forbidden), but added that Fatwas (decree) are not the solution. Talking to Business Recorder on Tuesday, JI Naib Amir Professor Khurshid Ahmad said that religious scholars had already issued Fatwas, declaring suicide attacks at mosques and other worship places as Haram.
"Suicide in any form is condemned by God Almighty, and no mitigating excuses are acceptable. The Holy Quran does not promise heaven to those who commit suicide. The promise of paradise or virgin wives in heaven for suicide bombers or those who kill innocent civilians has no basis in Islam and cannot be found anywhere in the Holy Quran", he said.
He said the government should join hands with the Ulema, elders and patriotic citizens to arrest anti-social and enemy agents and punish them publicly. "The government should think about the increasing incidents of suicides attacks at places of worship. Fatwa against suicide attacks and other terrorist attacks was already there, but there was no let up in these cowardly acts of anti-Islam elements," he added.
When asked for his comments on the growing incidents of suicide attacks at mosques, Major General Athar Abbas, Director General, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), said that suicide attack at any place of worship was highly condemnable. He said that civil law-enforcement agencies were vigilant in coping with the situation, but the current situation demanded greater vigilance.
Meanwhile, people from different walks of life endorsed the recent efforts of Interior Minister Rehman Malik to get Fatwa by religious leaders of different Muslims sects against suicide bombers. However, the consensus is that the Fatwa should have included condemnation of suicide bombings on all Houses of God - be they mosques, churches or temples.
Attiq-ur-Rehman, while having tea along with his friend in Jinnah Super Market of the capital, said: "Suicide attacks are sinful." Terming the suicide attackers and their masterminds as beasts, Shahnawaz, a university student, stated: "I am 10 times better Muslim than these people who motivate innocent people to undertake such heinous acts through bribery and/or brainwashing."
Madiha, a private school teacher, said that Islam condemned religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent people. "There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism," she said, adding that the targeting civilians' life and property through suicide bombings or any other terrorist attack was Haram and those who committed these barbaric acts were criminals, not martyrs.
She said that the Holy Quran says: "Whoever kills a person (unjustly) it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he has saved all mankind." A prayer leader at a mosque, who declined to be named, said that suicide was a major sin. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) stated that the one who committed suicide would be punished the same way he mercilessly attacked his fellow countrymen on doomsday.
"Whoever throws himself down from a mountain and kills himself will be in the fire of hell, throwing himself down therein forever and ever. Whoever takes poison and kills himself, his poison will be in his hand and he will be sipping it in the fire of hell forever and ever. "Whoever kills himself with a piece of iron, that piece of iron will be in his hand and he will be stabbing himself in the stomach with it in the fire of hell forever and ever", he said while quoting Abu Hurayrah (RA), narrating a Hadith.
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