Did the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. intend to commit suicide?

[فداء الرسول]

It is evidently clear that there is no biblical foundation to condemn suicide in Christianity, much less to condemn Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. for allegedly thinking of committing suicide. As pointed out by Dr. Aiken, it is Islam that vehemently condemns suicide and so the vociferous condemnation of suicide from Christians is actually a very Islamic call. We congratulate the Christians for ever coming closer to Islam.

Addendum:

Shimon Bar-Efrat, Head of Biblical Studies at the Hebrew University Secondary School, Jerusalem writes:

“A few cases of suicide, mostly committed to escape being killed by the enemy, are recorded in the Bible (Judg. 9.54; 16.30; 2 Sam. 17.23; 1 Kings 16.18). The Bible does not view these suicides negatively, in the way later Judaism would.” [9] (emphasis added)

In fact, as early on as the 17th century we find that suicide was not necessarily seen as a sin. The Anglican Church cleric John Donne wrote his Biathanatos, a defense of suicide, which was posthumously published, as J. T. Clemons writes:

“John Donne, the English cleric, wrote Biathanatos, in which he argued cogently for a positive view of suicide. Donne relied heavily on Jesus’ saying in Jn. 15:12f., “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Even more explicit is 1 Jn. 3:16, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
Among other texts cited to support suicide in a broader sense are Mk. 8:34f.; Jn. 13:37; Rom. 5:7; 14:7f.; 2 Cor. 5:1; Phil. 1:21f…” [10]

The New Oxford Annotated Bible concisely states:

“There is no stigma associated with suicide in the Bible; see 1 Sam. 31.5n.” [11]

We have already addressed in the main article the ambiguous verse “Thou shalt not kill” which was used by Saint Augustine as a basis to prohibit suicide. A further interesting point is that if one were to take this commandment literally then no form of killing including animal slaughter, killing of plants to eat vegetables etc. should be avoided at all costs which will obviously spell doom for our very existence. This good point is made by Mohamed Ghounem in his 101 Ways Islam Gives Love to the Bible:

“The vague commandment “Thou shalt not kill” obviously cannot be interpreted literally, because people continually kill plants and animals for food. The context is interpreted as meaning that one should not murder another human being.” [12]

References:

[1] Muhammad Mohar Ali (1997). Sirat al-Nabi and the Orientalists. Medina, Saudi Arabia: King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an. pp. 374-375

[2] G. F. Haddad (2006). Weak Hadiths in Sahih Bukhari? Retrieved from http://www.livingislam.org/k/whb_e.html

[3] Al-Nawawi (2001). Imam Al-Nawawi’s Collection of Forty Hadith. Petaling Jaya: Islamic Book Trust. p. 68

[4] Raabe, P. B. (2002). Issues in Philosophical Counseling. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 168

[5] O’Mathuna, D. P. (1997). But the Bible Doesn’t Say They Were Wrong to Commit Suicide, Does it?. In Timothy J. Demy & Gary P. Stewart, Suicide A Christian Response: Crucial Considerations for Choosing Life. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications. pp. 349-350

[6] Coghlan, C. & Imran Ali (2009). Suicide. In Andrew Powell & Andrew Sims, Spirituality and Psychiatry. London: The Royal College of Psychiatrists. pp. 65-66

[7] Aiken, L. R. (2000). Dying, Death, and Bereavement. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associated, Inc., Publishers. p. 78

[8] Williams, M. (2001). Suicide and Attempted Suicide. London: Penguin Books. pp. 2-3

[9] Shimon Bar-Efrat (2004). First Samuel. In The Jewish Study Bible. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 618

[10] Clemons, J. T. (1979). Suicide. In Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. p. 653

[11] Anon. (2007). The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 472

[12] Mohamed Ghounem & Mona Ghounem (2005). 101 Ways Islam Gives Love to the Bible. Newton, Connecticut: Multi-National Muslim Committee. p. 112