Murders Caused by Disbelief

Being far from the values of Islam inflicts many harms on society. The prevalence of mercilessness, rage and violence are among these harms. Disbelieving people readily commit murder when they feel their interests are at stake or when they cannot keep the rage they feel for one another under control.

Many are the people who stab another to death for no reason at all, who murder an immediate family member or a stranger out of a spark of jealousy or rage. Add to this picture, serial killers and hired gunmen. Newspapers and TV news abounding with murder stories are indications of the degeneration consequent upon disbelief.

All around the world, tens of thousands of people are killed every day. There are people who kill taxi cab-drivers at midnight for a handful of money. There are numerous hired gunmen who earn their living by murdering people they do not know. These people often take refuge in
irrational pretexts like "If I did not take this money, I would die of hunger." All these are the acts of violence occurring as a result of lives bereft of knowledge of the divine purpose.

Time, 25 March 1996 Those failing to observe the limits set by Allah readily commit murder.

There are those who kill only for pleasure, or serial killers who engage in the slaughter of innocent people. There are those who kill their own parents or hire someone else to kill them only to inherit their fortune. There are those who commit murder out of jealousy, and others who, driven by a desire for vengeance, wait for years to take their revenge. There are those who kill complete strangers because they do not like the way they look at them. There are those who massacre an entire family, including women and children, because of a blood feud. There are those raiding kindergartens and terrorising little hearts. The examples are legion and there is no end to the bad news appearing in the press everyday.

Newsweek, 2 July 2001 Time, 19 March 2001

One of the reasons why all these happen is because of ignoring the verse below:

Those who do not call on any other god together with Allah and do not kill anyone Allah has made inviolate, except with the right to do so, and do not fornicate. Anyone who does that will receive an evil punishment. (Surat al-Furqan: 68)

As the verse above suggests, Allah threatens people who kill a person without just cause with a grievous punishment. Allah informs us that killing a single person is as evil as killing all people. However, today, people frequently commit murder because they do not obey these verses and their hearts are void of fear for Allah. Having no faith in the hereafter and feigning ignorance of the fact that they will give account for such violence, people may well behave with such cruelty. It is, however, unlikely that a person observing the limits of Allah will fail to keep his rage under control and thus harm another person. People can escape justice in this world but this is impossible in the presence of Allah after one's death. One cannot escape from eternal punishment. Allah draws our attention to this issue in the following verse:

As for those who reject Allah's Signs, and kill the Prophets without any right to do so, and kill those who command justice, give them news of a painful punishment. (Surah Ali 'Imran: 21)

PEOPLE WHO HAVE DRIFTED FROM RELIGION RAISE CRUEL OFFSPRING

These children, who are highly influenced by films, are the unavoidable consequence of disbelieving societies.

Murders have recently risen higher on the world agenda because of another saddening dimension, namely violence towards children by other children. Recent school shootings by children clearly show the vulnerability of children to cruelty. Their fresh minds and hearts are deeply impregnated by television programmes and films full of violence of unprecedented proportions. Especially, murder scenes, which dominate some films, put many children at risk, making the dark side of disbelief apparent.

What actually pushes young people into such a gloomy condition and making them prone to cruelty is the existence of people astray from the religion. These people do not have fear of Allah and, furthermore, they raise cruel offspring having no fear of Allah. They instil in their children wrong actions rather than mercy, compassion, justice and wisdom, in brief: values of disbelief. The prayer of the prophet Nuh, peace be upon him, mentioned in the Qur'an shows that all disbelievers have similar cruel manners:

Nuh said, 'My Lord! do not leave a single one of the disbelievers on earth! If You leave any they will misguide Your slaves and spawn nothing but more dissolute disbelievers. My Lord! forgive me and my parents and all who enter my house as believers, and all the men and women of the believers. But do not increase the wrongdoers except in ruin!' (Surat Nuh: 26-28)

This child who looks very innocent, despite his youth carried out a horrible massacre. All the pain these people suffer is because of this child. The end is nigh for any society where children are not provided with values. The soaring number of child murderers has become a human tragedy in every respect.