Does the Koran Condemn or Condone Suicide?

A 10-year-old girl reportedly killed 19 people at a market in northeastern Nigeria in the latest suicide bombing there, just the latest outrage in the Boko Haram campaign of terror. Meanwhile, over the last month, there were suicide bombings in Turkey, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Chechnya and Libya.

And yet, even as the frequency and lethality of suicide attacks continues to escalate, many Muslim advocacy organizations, politicians and academics continue to repeat the mantra that suicide bombings have nothing to do with Islam because Islam prohibits suicide. If this is true, then why is it so many self-identifying religious Muslims strap on bomb vests in order to murder as many as possible?

Muslims believe the Koran is the unadulterated word of God, passed to the Prophet Muhammad through the angel Jibril (Gabriel). Many who embrace more violent interpretations of the Koran embrace the concept of abrogation. In short, while the Old and New Testaments are organized generally in chronological order, the Koran is organized not by order of revelation but rather by size of chapter, from longest to shortest.

To date myself as a child of the 1970s and '80s, to read the Koran straight through, cover to cover, is akin to picking up a Choose Your Own Adventure book but reading it straight through. There is a whole science of Islamic theology dedicated to establishing the chronological order of the revelations.

Context is important, because at the beginning of his life, Muhammad and his followers were living as a minority in Mecca. Not coincidentally, many of the revelations Muhammad received preached tolerance and compromise, useful traits for someone living among a stronger, better-armed majority.

However, as Muhammad gained followers, he grew stronger. After he migrated to Medina, the Muslims were the strongest local community. During this period, many of the revelations discuss governance more and emphasize tolerance and compromise less.

While Islam does prohibit suicide, the devil is in the details. "Al-Baqara" [The Cow] is the second chapter of the Koran, but theologians believe it was revealed to Muhammad after he migrated to Medina. Verse 154 of al-Baqara reads:

And say not of those who are killed in the Way of Allah, "They are dead." Nay, they are living, but you perceive (it) not.

Hence, a suicide bomber may appear clearly dead to any onlooker, but technically speaking, he did not commit suicide if he was transferred living to paradise. Now this isn't simply theoretical. Less than two months after 9/11, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Muslim Brotherhood acolyte who serves as Al-Jazeera's religion specialist and was once welcomed in European countries as a moderate, spoke about why no one should use the term "suicide bombing." "This is an unjust and misleading name because these are heroic commando and martyrdom attacks and should not be called suicide under any circumstances," he said.

The ability to go directly to paradise without all the usual formalities is an important recruiting tool for radicals who convince recruits that dying in the way of God is a far better fate than suffering the trials and tribulations of an ordinary death. My former graduate school colleague Leor Halevi, now a professor at Vanderbilt University, wrote a brilliant essay for The New York Times several years back, which examines the theology of death in Islam. Halevi wrote:

…What happens to the vast majority of Muslims, those who do not die as martyrs? According to Islamic doctrine, between the moment of death and the burial ceremony, the spirit of a deceased Muslim takes a quick journey to Heaven and Hell, where it beholds visions of the bliss and torture awaiting humanity at the end of days…. Before earth is piled upon the freshly dug grave, an unusual reunion takes place: The spirit returns to dwell within the body.

In the grave, the deceased Muslim – this composite of spirit and corpse – encounters two terrifying angels, Munkar and Nakir, recognized by their bluish faces, their huge teeth and their wild hair. These angels carry out a trial to probe the soundness of a Muslim's faith. If the dead Muslim answers their questions convincingly and if he has no sin on record, then the grave is transformed into a luxurious space that makes bearable the long wait until the final judgment. But if a Muslim's faith is imperfect or if he has sinned during life… then the grave is transformed into an oppressive, constricting space. The earth begins to weigh down heavily upon the sentient corpse, until the rib cage collapses; worms begin to nibble away at the flesh, causing horrible pain.

Of course, should moderate or mainstream clerics counsel a youth worried about sins on his record, they might simply encourage him to make a pilgrimage to Mecca (or, if he is a Shiite, a pilgrimage to other prominent shrines) in order to wipe his slate clean. But the nature of radical recruitment is that they insist there is only one path available, the one that leads to suicide bombing.

The point of this is not to disparage Islam. Never forget that the majority of victims of radical Islam are moderate Muslims, not Christians or Jews. But to dismiss the religious context of suicide bombing as having nothing to do with Islam is like a doctor who stubbornly rules out an ailment without ever examining the patient.

The simple fact is one that moderate Muslims fully understand: to counter the scourge of Islamic terrorism takes a victory in the battle of interpretation, not denial rooted in political correctness, defensiveness or a desire not to offend.

Michael Rubin is Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. This article first appeared on the American Enterprise Institute website.