Does the Koran (Quaran) justify suicide bombings?

No. There is no justification for suicide in Islam. Even for revenge.

To whom? Apparently it does not justify suicide for @Siren. Do we know that this applies to every Muslim?

Does the bible justify murder or capital punishment? Let’s not go down this road please?

Of course the answer is ‘that’s in the eye of the beholder’. You could say the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy justifies sugar cookies if you really want to.

Edit: Sorry- I can just see this trainwreck developing…

I have grown up with muslims and still have muslim friends, so I know a lot about this religion. And I can say, with certainty that muslims are forbidden to commit suicide, under any conditions. Those who do will enter hell.

I’m not talking about people who decide to reinvent their religion either. Just what is stated in the Quran and taught in mosques.

I have grown up with Christians and have Christian friends, and I know that the Bible prohibits the eating of the flesh of pigs. It also says that Homosexuality is an Abomination, yet there are Gay Episcopalian Bishops. Don’t be so arrogant about what is stated in Scripture. At best it is ambiguous.

@Siren Hit the nail right on the head with that last comment, Siren.
I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with the Koran or the Muslim faith. But it angers me that those murdering psychopathic sons of bitches that are referred to as the Taliban have perverted the Koran. Please tell me that Muslims share this hatred of the Taliban for the same reasons.
I would much prefer it if an actual Muslim could answer this question. Muslims please feel free to answer!

The Koran sees suicide as a sin buy does alow martyrdom and this refers to entering into a battle from which is impossible to survive. Martyrdom in the defense of Islam is the highest form of sacrifice-hence the virgin rich afterlife. The problem with picking and choosing quotations is that it is easy to pervert the true meaning of the book as a whole.

The Hadih are reortedly the direct words of the Prophet and used in the interpretation of the Quran.

From the hadith:

“You are neither hard-hearted nor of fierce character, nor one who shouts in the markets. You do not return evil for evil, but excuse and forgive.” – Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number 362
“Do not kill any old person, any child or any woman” (Abu Dawud).
“Do not kill the monks in monasteries” or “Do not kill the people who are sitting in places of worship” (Musnad of Ibn Hanbal).

Speech by Abu Bakr, Mohammed’s closest friend and first successor, to an Islamic army set out for Syria: “Stop, O people, that I may give you ten rules for your guidance in the battlefield. Do not commit treachery or deviate from the right path. You must not mutilate dead bodies. Neither kill a child, nor a woman, nor an aged man. Bring no harm to the trees, nor burn them with fire, especially those which are fruitful. Slay not any of the enemy’s flock, save for your food. You are likely to pass by people who have devoted their lives to monastic services; leave them alone.”

So it is clear that bombings and hostile actions taken against civilians are forbidden/

Have a look here:

http://islam.about.com/cs/currentevents/a/suicide_bomb.htm

“Suicide is forbidden.”

“Harming innocent bystanders, even in times of war, was forbidden by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). This includes women, children, noncombatant bystanders, and even trees and crops. Nothing is to be harmed unless the person or thing is actively engaged in an assault against Muslims.”

However, an over-zealous or deranged person can always twist the words he finds to justify his desire to hate and kill. For example, he could insist that the bystanders are not innocent because they have refused to join his cause and thus support the “infidels” and thereby are actively engaged in an assault against him or his cause.

What the Koran or the Bible or any other religious tract says can always be twisted or taken out of context in order to support all sorts of thinking.

@Darwin: Yes, it’s true. Anyone can justify murder or another heinous crime in their mind, even saying their religion made them do it…criminals do it all the time.

@w2pow2: Thank you. I would guess that anyone who gives a religion a bad name in the media, as opposed to ‘spreading the good word’ by positive example, probably doesn’t deem highly in the favor of those wanting positive role models for their religion. So I would guess yes, that they’re not looked too favorably upon by other muslims.

@pdworkin – I am not a Bible scholar but it does seem that certain prohibitions, e.g. to some foods, became obsolete with the coming of Christ (Acts 10:15 says, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (NEL). About homosexuality, the prophets did say quite a lot, both in the Old and New Testaments, but it is striking that none of the Gospels tell if Jesus voiced an opinion on the subject. It behoves all Christians to be humble and let people be – “love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Matt. 19:19).

@bea2345 You make my point: Scripture is a matter of interpretation.

@pdworkin: I think your interpretation of scripture is that it is a matter of interpretation. Doesn’t mean anyone agrees with you.

Ahh, so Scripture is inerrant and everyone agrees precisely on it’s meaning?

@bea2345 Where is homosexuality condemned in the New Testament?

St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, 1:24–32; his first letter to the Corinthians, 1 Cor.6, 9–10; and his first letter to Timothy, 1 Tim. 1, 8–11. But somehow, I cannot help feeling that we have missed the bus. If homosexuality is against nature, etc., then why is it so common?

Really? Paul wrote that we missed the bus?

@@pdworkin: I’m sorry I answered your question. I am sticking to the original question, which I thought was a good one. I’m not interested in your debate unfortunately.

Off I go to other pastures

Good choice.

@pdworkin . Paul did not say that we missed the bus, I said it. The preoccupation with sexual behaviour is common to all ages and times and species. God created us all and somehow I do not think, when standing before the judgment seat, that failure to interpret the Scriptures, in a politically correct manner, will be one of the charges.

God may have created you, but I am the product of blind chance, random mutations, and selective adaptation.

Oh yeah? Well fairies made me… Beat that…
@bea2345 I wouldn’t have guessed that you are a person of the faith. Do you believe in evolution?

@w2pow2 – what’s to believe? evolution happens, any farmer can tell you that. As for being a person of the faith, I try. One of my friends, a dedicated Christian, said that one day, she would know God’s purpose, and was living towards that day (she has a severely disabled child). I wish to have that faith, but in my darker moments, feel that the knowledge might not be something that I want to have.

I think we all are the result of a wonderful universe bursting with evolutionary possibilities. All persons of faith should accept evolution as God’s way of creating us human beings. Evolution is creation in progress.

When humans use natural language there’s always the question of interpretation. There’s context. There are plenty of ambiguities on the semantic level. Sometimes even on the syntactic level: The man saw the woman in the park with a telescope. What does this sentence mean?

@mattbrowne That sentence about the telescope is like the exact same sentence we used in my linguistics class to represent ambiguity.

@DominicX – Yes, it’s a popular example. I studies linguistics for several years in the mid-80ies. One of my professor used it too and I like the example and memorized it.

People who think the original biblical texts have one “true” meaning know nothing about linguistics, semantics, communication and the human mind.

The Koran states that those who die as martyrs, i.e., while spreading the word, are guaranteed heaven, with rewards that could tempt anyone if they could trust the word of Allah. After all, what male would not want to wake up in the arms of 70 or so beautiful women (and I am certain that women would be allowed to wake up in the arms of 70 or so georgeous men). Add in the cool waters, the rich and abundant fruits, good companionship of others, and it is evident that Heaven, as envisioned by Mohammed, is a wonderful place.

Suicides are condemned to the fires of hell, which makes the heat of the desert cool by comparison.

The Koran does not say what the distinction is, which is why so many suicide bombers go forth believing that they are guaranteed heaven simply by blowing themselves up and taking other non-believers with them. But even when the Koran was written, the distinction between the martyr and the suicide was obvious.

The martyr is killed by circumstances or by others. The suicide kills themselves.

Therefore, it is obvious what the Koranic position on suicide bombers is. It is forbidden.

4:29:
......And kill not yourselves. Lo, Allah is ever merciful unto you.