There are many similar topics out there.
Also topics similar to this are always debatable.
There can be either:
- Yes, I wanna help out and relieve this person of pain (assuming the person requiring help with suicide is chronically ill)
- No, don't believe in suicide
A middle ground isn't the most pro-active train of thought when faced with a sudden situation like this because you getting to that end result decision will be difficult. But the middle ground is where most people tend to lie.
Are there any historically related religious literature for such situations?
Yusuf al-Qaradawi, PhD, founder and part owner of www.IslamOnline.net, issed a fatwa that was quoted in "Living Shari'ah: Fatwah Bank" on IslamOnline.net on Mar. 22, 2005:
"Euthanasia or Mercy Killing is the act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, through lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment.
This act is Islamically forbidden for it encompasses a positive role on the part of the physician to end the life of the patient and hasten his death via lethal injection, electric shock, a sharp weapon or any other way. This is an act of killing, and, killing is a major sin and thus forbidden in Islam, the religion of pure mercy."
source: http://euthanasia.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000156
There is an Islamic position where if treatment is known to not have an effect, it can be better to not administer it and cause more pain.
Going out of your way to end anothers life seems to be less tolerated.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
As far as assisted suicide goes in terms of death by lethal injection...i don't think there's any place for it in islam...if islam doesn't tolerate suicide, then what makes a person think that it will tolerate death by lethal injection...life is there for ALLAH swt to take.
But all that aside, it's an issue which no doubt would disturb the minds of muslims or non-muslims. To picture ones self in a scenario, where your asked to accopmany someone to switzerland or denmark to help end their life...how would you answer such a question...
i personally wouldn't go to the extent of accompanying them through their decision not because of the legal issues surrouding it, rather the fact that i have no desire in helping take that which doesn't belong to me, that which is not my right to take or have a say over. I'd like to say, the best i could do in such a situation is to make the patient's life as comfortable as possible during their final days in this life.
The problem with it is, is that it's becoming more tolerable now, the 100 or so people that have pursued it, no one has stepped into successfully prosecute, perhaps rightly so, the poor person who had to watch their loved one go through all that, has perhaps gone through enough hardship as it is. but what if muslims were to pursue such a course of action, would it say in the next 10 years become so common, that muslims would not see the problem with it as they should do...and yes it's an issue that will become more tolerable within western society, just as abortion steadily became acceptable and is now considered the norm. Might not seem like a very important or dangerous topic now...but it may well become so in years to come.
As far as assisted suicide goes in terms of death by lethal injection...i don't think there's any place for it in islam...if islam doesn't tolerate suicide, then what makes a person think that it will tolerate death by lethal injection...life is there for ALLAH swt to take.
But all that aside, it's an issue which no doubt would disturb the minds of muslims or non-muslims. To picture ones self in a scenario, where your asked to accopmany someone to switzerland or denmark to help end their life...how would you answer such a question...
i personally wouldn't go to the extent of accompanying them through their decision not because of the legal issues surrouding it, rather the fact that i have no desire in helping take that which doesn't belong to me, that which is not my right to take or have a say over. I'd like to say, the best i could do in such a situation is to make the patient's life as comfortable as possible during their final days in this life.
The problem with it is, is that it's becoming more tolerable now, the 100 or so people that have pursued it, no one has stepped into successfully prosecute, perhaps rightly so, the poor person who had to watch their loved one go through all that, has perhaps gone through enough hardship as it is. but what if muslims were to pursue such a course of action, would it say in the next 10 years become so common, that muslims would not see the problem with it as they should do...and yes it's an issue that will become more tolerable within western society, just as abortion steadily became acceptable and is now considered the norm. Might not seem like a very important or dangerous topic now...but it may well become so in years to come.