I am not an expert on the topic, but how does Islam view suicide? I am not talking about a somebody who martyrs themselves for a cause, like a suicide bomber, but somebody who just kills themselves.

The reason I bring this up is that after watching some documentaries about radical jihadists and from watching the news it seems that just about all of these suicide bombers are young. I don't recall ever hearing about a suicide bomber being a 50 year old. I am a high school teacher and I have to be on the look out for signs of suicidal behavior teens. My school had a suicide this month, a fifteen year old. I was wondering if some of these young jihadists would have killed themselves if they had had not been radicalized? I was thinking that for some of these people becoming a martyr was a socially excepted (by some) form of suicide so they chose that route rather than a more traditional suicide method.

I have no real evidence, but I don't think so. Radicalization and suicide are two totally different things. Radicalization is kind of a group thing, either with internet or face to face, external. Suicide is something which comes from deep within, internal.

I don't pretend to speak for any Muslim here, but from what I was taught about the major religions, there isn't any religion that views suicide as an acceptable action. The common tenet is that the Supreme Being granted life and only it has the power to take it away.

In the conservative circles of Islam, suicide was merely called by another name: martyrdom. If you killed yourself for an Islamic cause, you gained honor. Some circles went further with the whole "virgins in heaven for you". However, until the perversion of Islam by militant groups, all schools of Islam had rules on how to carry out these suicide attacks (no harm to innocent people being the most common one): suicide was forbidden UNLESS it was necessary or it was fighting an enemy (similar to a Samurai and Seppuku).

TL;DR version: Islam says "no" to suicide, as do other religions.

Dutchy wrote:

Radicalization is kind of a group thing, either with internet or face to face, external. Suicide is something which comes from deep within, internal.

From what I have read many radicals are recruited from disenfranchised young people, which is often a type of person who commits suicide or other acts of violence. I could see an Islamic teen who is thinking of suicide may want to do it while taking others with him, rather than do it alone due to the stigma it would place on his family. Some people may choose to go out a martyr rather than be seen as a coward.

Suicide is not acceptable in Islam, in a matter of fact, if a Muslim commits suicide, he doesn't get a proper funeral, his family doesn't accept condolences and in some cases he is not buried in the family graveyard.

Egypt STILL maintains the idea that "real Muslims don't commit suicide" as one of their two primary reasons for refusing to accept the official results of the MS990 crash (pilot suicide).

I've wondered if some of those recruited for suicide bombings are closeted gay. There is a stigma against this with Muslim society and too many gay youth commit suicide in all cultures. It could seem to them that is a way out and believe their family would be proud of them. I've read things that suggest Muslim clerics aren't immune to the problems that have recently swirled around other faiths, the Roman Catholic clergy in particular. That could be used by some truly evil clerics to further manipulate questioning youth.

While I am not a muslim and does not have any connection with Muslim, occasionally i would have thought about if someone were disappointed at the society(not just religion but also other things) so much that wanted to kill myself then the person might as well make it a terrorist attack case as that could create more impact and also get your name onto news and perhaps history.
For the reason why it is mostly committed by young people, I don't really have any knowledge about it but if I am to take a guess then it is probably because young people are usually more easily to accept different kind of thoughts including radical ones + more likely to act on impulse + place less value on life itself, and they are least likely to have a stable family + social network + job and such they would pprobably be more likely to commit those acts.

TWA772LR wrote:

or have it be carried out in a way because they don't want to kill themselves, like being shot by police.

There are many instances here in the US where people have "committed suicide by police". I recall something in my area a few years ago. A guy walked into a police station and shot a cop and he was immediately shot to death. Later on his family said he had been recently talked about suicide.

skywaymanaz wrote:

I've read things that suggest Muslim clerics aren't immune to the problems that have recently swirled around other faiths, the Roman Catholic clergy in particular.

I have read those things too. I recently saw something on TV about that kind of thing going on in Afghanistan.

skywaymanaz wrote:

I've wondered if some of those recruited for suicide bombings are closeted gay.

This (Anal Jihad): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Ojb1-Dy8U