MURDER OF HUMANITY

Sanctity of Human Life

THE Quran (5: 32) states that killing a human being, except as punishment for murder or for spreading corruption, shall be regarded as having killed all humankind. The Divine law mandates respect of human life and considers the killing of another human being without a legitimate reason as the most serious crime. This is because just one incident of this sort can deprive people of the respect for the sanctity of human life.

God is man’s Creator, not man himself. And so, no human being has the right to slay a fellow human. It is permissible for a human life to be taken only in a case when this is proven to be legitimate after a proper trial in a court of law. In no other case is this at all permissible.

We humans have not created water. Hence, it isn’t legitimate for us to waste even one drop of it. Nor did we create food grains. And so, it isn’t right to waste even a single grain of rice. The same holds good—but with much greater severity— in the case of human life. We humans have not created ourselves or other human beings. Hence, we have no right to deprive another human being of life.

Just one incident of killing can deprive people of the respect for the sanctity of human life.

Killing someone is an enormously heinous crime. It is tantamount to murdering God’s Creation Plan. Man is God’s most precious creation and for a special purpose. Each person is sent to this world for some great purpose. Therefore, slaying even a single human being can never be considered trivial.