Islam and International Law of Human Rights on the Right for Life and Opposing It

The right to life and opposing it has been recognized both in Islam and in international law of human rights, though with different theoretical foundations, In Islam, the right for life is considered as a divine right gifted to humanity by God and thus all humans have a duty to protect it. According to Islam any unlawful deprivation of life is forbidden. However, Islam allows Muslims in certain circumstances such as Jihad, martyrdom operations and sacrifice of life to risk their physical lives, considering these as invaluable and great virtue. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of general international human rights documents, the right to life is a fundamental absolute human right inalienable and impossible to take it. To this view, therefore, life is not a gift of God. The study of suicide operation in both Islam and international law demonstrates that since everyone enjoys the right to life and as a suicide operation leads to killing of innocent civilian populations, it is prohibited. Of course, dying as a liberation fighter is an exception to suicide because of its different nature.