Islam and Human Rights — Page 83
Article 3 83 “the right to life, liberty and security of person. ” Islam is as em phatic as any other system in safeguarding these rights. Suicide is forbidden ( 4:30) and also infanticide (17:32). Accountability in respect of infanticide is stressed in awe-inspiring terms (81:9-10). The sense of horror sought to be inspired against destroying human life may be gathered from: “Wherefore We prescribed for the children of Israel that whosoever killed a person-unless it be for killing a person or for creating disorder in the land-it shall be as if he had slaughtered all mankind; and whoso secures the life of one, it shall be as if he had secured the life of all man kind” (5:33). The specific prohibition is also clear: “Say: Come, I will rehearse to you what your Lord has enjoined: that you associate not anything as partner with Him and that you comport yourselves benevolently towards your parents, and that you kill not your children for fear of poverty-it is We Who provide for you and for them-and that you approach not nigh unto indecency, whether overt or hidden; and that you destroy not the life that Allah has made sacred, save by right. That is what He has enjoined upon you, that you may understand. “Approach not the property of an orphan, except in a way that is beneficent, till he attains his maturity. Give