#159: Ruling on the One who commits Suicide due to Mental Illness

*QUESTION*

*CAN A PERSON COMMIT SUICIDE DUE TO MENTAL ILLNESS*

_” Asalamu aleikum.. If someone commit suicide, the person is going to hell fire. What if the person commit suicide due to mental health?”_

*ANSWER*

Wa alaykum Salām Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh

Alhamdulillāh, we ask Allāh to grant us soundness from all illnesses, mental illness inclusive, āmīn.

Suicide is Harām in Islām without any exemptions. The Ulamā only permitted a Muslim to be the direct source of his death only in the severity of war in Self-sacrificial Operations.

In the situation described, if the Asker means wether it were per permissible for a mentally ill person to kill himself, then it isn’t permissible. This is due to the generality of the forbiddance that has come in the Ahādith.

It has been recorded by Imām Al-Bukhāri – rahimahullāh – in the Sahih from Abū Hurayrah – radiyallāhu ‘anhu – that once, a man was very severe and active in the Jihad against the Kuffār and the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – said: _’he is of the People of the Fire’_ while the situation was like that, the said man was severely injured, so he took his hands toward his quiver from which he removed an arrow. He then killed himself with it.

In the Hadīth is not only the forbiddance of killing the self but also the fact that such a person will end up in the Nār. We ask Allah’s protection from that.

But if the Questioner means to ask if the one who kills himself due to mental illness will be in the Nār, then that wouldn’t be the case Allāh willing.

This is because of the Hadīth in which the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – said:

إن الله تجاوز عن أمتي الخطأ والنسيان وما استكرهوا عليه

_”Indeed Allah has overlooked for my Ummah mistakes, forgetfulness and that upon which they were compelled.”_

Recorded in the Sunan and graded as Sahih.

And due to the Hadīth recorded by Al-Hākim in the Mustadrak from ‘Ali Ibn Abī Tālib – radiyallāhu ‘anhu – that the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – said:

رفع القلم عن ثلاث ، عن المجنون المغلوب على عقله ، وعن النائم حتى يستيقظ ، وعن الصبي حتى يحتلم

_”the pen has been lifted from recording against three: the mentally sick one whose intellect is unfit, from the one who is sleeping until he wakes up, and from the child until he attains puberty.”_

For this reason, the Muslims have a consensus that mental sick people are not to be held into account for their doings.

Allāhu A’alam
Bārakallāhu fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran

6th Rabi-u-l-thani 1438

📚 *IslamNode*