The difference between Suicide-operations and the action of Barâ' | Ibn 'Uthaymîn
Scholar: Imâm Muhammad bin Sâlih bin ´Uthaymîn
Source: Liqâ' al-Bâb al-Maftûh (80 A) 1415-06-28/1994-12-01
Referece: Darulhadith, Sweden
Courtesy of www.aFatwa.com
Question: We hear from certain domains of Jihâd how there are people who perform Jihâd-operations, even called as Suicide-attacks by some. The objective is that the person rushes into the soldiers of the enemy with explosives on himself and blows himself up. The first one to die is he. Can this deed be compared with the servant whom Allâh is amazed at who fights without armour?
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymîn: These suicide-attacks, whose objective is that a person attacks his enemy with his body full of explosives so that they explode and he first dies, are forbidden. The one who performs this has taken his own life. That he takes his own life is clear and explicit since he puts explosives on himself that explode so that he dies.
It has been confirmed from the prophet (sallâ Allâhu 'alayhi wa sallam) that, the one who kills himself with something, will be punished with it in hellfire for eternity. If the person does it due to ignorance and because he believes that the deed belongs to an accomplished Jihâd, then Allâh (subhânahu wa ta'âlâ) will not punish him for his sin because he has fallen into confusion. As for the person who has knowledge of it (and still does it), he is considered to be a self-murderer.
Some people may argue against us regarding this opinion with Barâ' bin Mâlik (radhiya Allâhu 'anh) and his action in the battle against Banû Hanîfah. He ordered his friends to throw him into the fortress so that he could open it for them. There are no doubts about the fact that he exposed himself to danger. It is then said (in response to these) that Barâ' bin Mâlik was confident that he was going to survive even if it was one percent of chance. However, the person who puts explosives on himself, of whom we are sure that he will die first, doesn't even have one percent chance of surviving. Thus, these two deeds cannot be compared.
It is true that a courageous person who knows himself can go into the enemy and hurt them, for there is a chance of survival. Based upon this, it is irrelevant to narrate this happening in this respect. There is a difference between the person who is certain that he will die and the person whose survival is a possibility.