الانتحار بين التوراة والإنجيل والقرآن: دراسة تحليليّة مقارنة [Suicide in the Torah, the Bible, and the Qur’an: An Analytical Comparative Study]

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the positions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam on the issue of suicide, highlighting the role of religion in protecting human life from destruction under life’s difficulties and psychological pressures, and to compare how these scriptures address the phenomenon of suicide using inductive and analytical–deductive methods. The study concludes that the prohibition of suicide in Judaism and Christianity is largely inferred through interpretation or through traditional jurisprudence based on rational evidence, rather than through explicit texts condemning the act. In contrast, Islamic law provides clear and explicit rulings prohibiting suicide based on the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The study also notes that certain instances of suicide in the Old and New Testaments were not met with objection—some even followed by praise, such as the case of Razis in the Old Testament—and that these cases later influenced episodes of collective religious suicide. Nevertheless, although the two Testaments lack explicit prohibitions, they do contain indications of the value of life and the general prohibition of killing, though these indications are not as explicit regarding suicide as those found in Islam.