the fact that the man had not gone round and searched every single household; rather, he swore on the basis of what he overwhelmingly thought to be true, and the Prophet ﷺ approved his statement. God willing, the rest of the discussion on this ḥadith will follow.
1551 – Abū Zayd Thābit ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Anṣārī, may Allah be pleased with him, one of those who pledged allegiance at al-Riḍwān, reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Whoever swears an oath, invoking a religion other than Islam, while knowingly lying, is exactly as he has described himself. Whoever kills himself with anything will be punished with it on the Day of Resurrection. A man has no binding vow in regard to what he does not own. And cursing a believer is like killing him.” Agreed upon.
[Explanation]
We have already spoken about the first part of this ḥadith—namely, that whoever knowingly and deliberately swears by a religion other than Islam is as he has said.
The second point is that whoever takes his own life with something will be tormented with that very thing in Hell. If a man drinks poison in order to die and does in fact die, he will go on sipping that poison in Hellfire, abiding therein forever—may Allah protect us. If he climbs to a roof and throws himself down to his death, he will be punished in Hell in the same manner. If he kills himself with a knife, a stick, or explosives, he will be tormented with it in Hell.
Among the contemporary examples are those who commit suicide by strapping explosives to themselves: a person fastens bombs around his waist, goes to a group of enemies, detonates them, and is the first to die. Such a person has killed himself and will be punished in Hell with the very device by which he killed himself—may Allah grant refuge. These people call themselves “fedayeen,” yet they have taken their own lives and will therefore be tormented in the Fire of Hell with what they used to kill themselves. They are not martyrs, for they committed a forbidden act. The martyr is one who seeks nearness to Allah by doing what Allah has commanded, not by perpetrating what He has forbidden. Allah, exalted is He, says, “Do not kill yourselves; surely Allah has been ever merciful to you” and He says, “Do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction, and do good; Allah loves those who do good.” Nevertheless, we say that these people