Hijacking and Hostage-Taking: Heinous Crimes
Hijacking is, without doubt, haram or forbidden in Islam. No matter from which angle it is looked at, it is definitely forbidden according to the shariah and is a major crime. It is a crime that simultaneously involves many criminal activities, including ‘highway robbery’, hostage-taking, killing innocents, looting or damaging other people’s property, and so on.
‘Highway robbery’ entails attacking a person who is in a vulnerable position and inflicting harm on him. In earlier times, ‘highway robbery’ was a common occurrence. Related to this was piracy on the seas. And in modern times we have hijacking in the air. All these forms of ‘highway robbery’ are equally forbidden or haraam in Islam. An individual or group that, directly or indirectly, engages in this sort of action is, in the eyes of Islam, a major criminal.
Hostage-taking entails capturing innocent people and using them to bargain to have one’s demands met. This practice was known in the ancient past, but today it has become almost an art in itself. There is no doubt that it is a terrible sin, as well as utter cowardice. If you have a grouse against someone and you take revenge for this on someone else—this is completely forbidden or haraam in Islam. Islam does not allow for innocent people to be harmed, no matter on what grounds.
It is clear from the Hudaybiya Treaty that the Prophet entered into that if an opposing party takes a Muslim as hostage, it is still impermissible for Muslims to take their men as hostages. This is because this would be tantamount to taking revenge on an innocent person. And oppressing an innocent person in order to extract or express revenge is not permissible in the Islamic shariah.
Sometimes, hijackers kill innocent passengers in pursuing their criminal goals. This is undoubtedly a terrible crime. In the Quran, God says:
Whoever killed a human being—except as a punishment for murder or for spreading corruption in the land—shall be regarded as having killed all mankind (5:32)
Those who slaughter innocent passengers or cause them any distress despite this Divine declaration have no fear of God. And people who are bereft of the fear of God are definitely also bereft of faith.
Obviously, passengers travelling on an airplane are innocent. They have no prior dispute or conflict with the hijackers. And so, to hijack a plane and torment, and even kill, innocent passengers—all these are completely forbidden, or haraam, in Islam.
It is completely forbidden in Islam to deceive anyone, no matter for what purpose. Hijacking is a form of complete deception. Hijackers deceive other people at every stage of their operation. They procure false passports and may use fake currency; they deceive airport staff and smuggle on board dangerous weapons; they cheat the security staff. All these actions entail lying and deception, which are very serious crimes in Islam.
Islam simply does not permit deception, and so, it is completely un-Islamic to pursue one’s aims by deceiving others, so much so that if a Muslim country has to go to war with another country, it is incumbent on it to make an open declaration of its decision. Proxy war is not at all permissible in Islam. To pursue one’s aims by resorting to lies and deception—which is what hijacking entails—is thus an enormous crime according to Islam. A hadith in the Sahih Muslim relates that a person who engages in deception is not to be counted among the Muslims. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 101)
Hijacking entails loss, or the threat of loss, of life and property. Taking control of an airplane involves seizing someone else’s property. It also involves killing, or threatening to kill, scores of innocent people. For the hijackers, hijacking is synonymous with committing suicide, which in itself is such an enormous sin that according to the Islamic shariah, a person who deliberately kills himself dies a haraam death. And, according to Islam, there can be no worse death than such a death.
There have been cases in recent years of hijackers claiming that their action is part of what they call an ‘Islamic jihad’. Their claim is criminally false. Islamic jihad in the path of God is engaged in for purposes of defense, while the so-called wars that these hijackers are waging are for the sake of power and pelf. Such a war definitely cannot be a jihad in the cause of God.
Another point to keep in mind is that jihad in the sense of qital, or war, is the prerogative only of an established government and not of members of the general public. But, today, it is precisely such individuals who are behind cases of hijacking and other forms of violence unleashed in the name of jihad. According to Islam, these people simply do not have the right to do so. For such individuals to launch wars is absolutely forbidden, or haraam, in Islam.
An established government can resort to defensive war if it is the victim of aggression, but even a defensive war of this sort would be considered legitimate in Islam only when it is fought after making an open declaration. To launch any sort of proxy war without issuing such a declaration is in no way legitimate in Islam.
Islam divides rights into two: huquq Allah (‘rights of God’), and huquq ul-ibaad (‘rights of God’s creatures’). The former refers to the responsibilities that a person should fulfill in relation to God. If he errs with regard to the ‘rights of God’, to atone for this it is enough for him to ask for forgiveness from God.
But the issue of huquq ul-ibaad is very serious. If a person errs in a matter related to the ‘rights of God’s creatures’—say, by committing an offence against another human being—then he cannot atone for it only by asking forgiveness from God. Along with asking God for forgiveness, it is incumbent on him to also ask forgiveness from the concerned person and to compensate for the damage he has inflicted on him or her.
Hijacking undoubtedly involves a violation of the ‘rights of God’s creatures’. It is a form of oppression against fellow humans. It is incumbent on hijackers to atone for their crimes, otherwise they would be considered to be unpardonable criminals in God’s eyes, even if they perform various Islamic acts of worship.
