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Welby and 23 other faith leaders declare opposition to assisted dying bill

BMJ 2015; 351 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h4807 (Published 07 September 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;351:h4807

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Re: Welby and 23 other faith leaders declare opposition to assisted dying bill

ALL 3 ABRAHAMIC FAITHS OPPOSE AND CONDEMN SUICIDE AND ASSISTED SUICIDE

It is a fact that the 3 Abrahamic faiths and all religions do oppose and condemn suicide and Assisted suicide.
They all believe that:
-LIFE IS SACRED
-GOD, our Creator is the only Owner of every one's life.
-The end of every one's life is fixed by GOD and not by the patient or the doctor or the judge/court or the MP
-We all are ordered to die in the natural way
-No one should rush his/her own death
-Severe punishment/hell is for any one "playing GOD" by killing himself/herself (suicide) or by getting any help from a doctor or relative to end his/her life(Marris bill on Assisted suicide).
We like to quote now some of the holy scriptures which do oppose suicide/assisted suicide in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

JUDAISM:
"Who sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man". (Genesis 9:6).
"You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13),
"And if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile: you shall take him from Mine altar, that he may die" (Exodus 21:14).
In Numbers (35:30) it states: "Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses".
"You shall not murder" (Deuteronomy 5:17).
Last year the Chief Rabbi explained clearly why he was opposed to legislation permitting assisted suicide. His article about this in the Telegraph can be read here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10971046/Ephraim-Mirvis-Instead...

CHRISTIANITY:
From the Book of Job in the Old Testament:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” – Job 1:21
Death is an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26). Life is a sacred gift from God (Genesis 2:7). When given the choice between life and death, God told Israel to “choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
Euthanasia spurns the gift and embraces the curse.
God alone is sovereign over when and how a person’s death occurs. Job testifies in Job 30:23, , “No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death.”
God has the final say over death (see 1 Corinthians 15:26, 54–56; Hebrews 2:9, 14–15; Revelation 21:4). Euthanasia and assisted suicide are man’s attempts to usurp that authority from God.

The prohibition against killing legally innocent people is later formalised in the sixth commandment, ‘You shall not murder’ (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17).
These passages resolve any ambiguity for us and give a precise definition of what is prohibited, namely the ‘intentional killing of an innocent human being’ (Exodus 23:7; 2 Kings 21:16; Psalms 106:37,38; Jeremiah 19:4). Euthanasia clearly falls within this biblical definition. There is no provision for compassionate killing, even at the person’s request and there is no recognition of a ‘right to die’ as all human life belongs to God (Psalms 24:1). Our lives are not actually our own. Suicide (and therefore assisted suicide) is therefore equally wrong.

ISLAM:
There are many verses in the final Holy Book :AL QUR'AN which emphasize these basic Pro-life islamic beliefs which OPPOSE suicide and Assisted suicide:

In the Name of GOD,the Most Compassionate the Most Merciful

"DO NOT KILL YOURSELVES, FOR VERILY ALLAH/GOD HAS BEEN TO YOU MOST MERCIFUL"
(chapter 4,verse 29)
"....TAKE NOT LIFE WHICH ALLAH HAS MADE SACRED"
(chapter 6,verse 151)
"AND (ALLAH) IS THE ONE WHO GAVE YOU LIFE, THEN SHALL HE ORDAIN YOU TO DIE, THEN SHALL HE GIVE YOU YOUR LIFE AGAIN, TRULY MANKIND IS UNGRATEFUL"
(chapter 22,verse 66) .

THE PROPHETIC PROHIBITION OF SUICIDE:
The final Prophet Muhammad said, "Whoever purposely throws himself from a mountain and kills himself, will be in the (Hell) Fire falling down into it and abiding therein perpetually forever; and whoever drinks poison and kills himself with it, he will be carrying his poison in his hand and drinking it in the (Hell) Fire wherein he will abide eternally forever; and whoever kills himself with an iron weapon, will be carrying that weapon in his hand and stabbing his abdomen with it in the (Hell) Fire wherein he will abide eternally forever".

All types of Assisted suicide and Euthanasia (voluntary or non voluntary, direct or indirect, active or passive) are all prohibited in Islam (as stated by the European Council for Ifta and Research).

It is clear from all these holy verses / statements in all these Abrahamic faiths that SUICIDE and Assisted suicide are PROHIBITED!
THEY ALL OPPOSE Rob Marris bill on Assisted suicide(in most cases the patients are not dying)
There are tens of million followers of these 3 faiths in the UK.
Surely they cannot all be wrong!
There have been before and lately many MULTIFAITH STATEMENTS (the 3 Abrahamic faiths plus other religions) against Rob Marris bill on assisted suicide/dying.
More: we have a lot of medical and social evidences against this immoral unethical bill.
We can go though it now, as we are concentrating only on the RELIGIOUS dimension.

Finally:
10 Sept is WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY, it will be very appropriate to make some efforts on Prevention of suicide by aborting the Marris bill on Assisted suicide.

I would like at the end to thank very much my friends: Jewish Rabbis, my Pro-life Christian friends: Bishops and priests for their PRO-LIFE stand, for their cooperation and for their supply to me of their PRO-LIFE Holy Scriptures.

GOD BLESS THEM ALL.

Dr A Majid Katme (MBBCH,DPM)
Leader of the Pro-life Muslim Campaign in Britain
Muslim Coordinator to the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children(SPUC)
Weekly TV Presenter of a Health show.
Website: www.prolifemuslims.com

Competing interests: No competing interests

10 September 2015
Majid Katme
Retired medical doctor
BMA
London