7. Ihtiraam-e-Zil-Hayaat — Reverence for Living Beings
احترام ذی حیات
Dear friends! Islam is a foundational principle — and that principle is reverence for life. Of all the attributes of Allah Most High, the one that surpasses all others in importance is Hayaat (Life). Life is the greatest gift — without life, no knowledge exists, and nothing has any power. Of the names of Allah Most High, Al-Qayyum (the Self-Sustaining) holds the highest rank.
Look: in the world, everything strives its utmost to preserve its own life. The Qur'an Sharif says:
وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ
"And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except in accordance with the law." (Al-An'am, 6:151) — God has declared it forbidden to kill any soul that He has forbidden — meaning, unlawful killing. So you cannot kill an innocent person. You cannot kill yourself. Your own life is also covered by this prohibition. From the very beginning, this has been explained as including even the taking of one's own life — and it is also included in this verse.
وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ بِأَيِّ ذَنبٍ قُتِلَتْ
"And when the girl who was buried alive is asked — for what sin was she killed?" (At-Takwir, 81:8-9) — That is, on the Day of Judgment, the buried girl will be asked: what was your sin that you were killed? The scholars' consensus is that this falls under the same law — and Islam absolutely forbids killing children, daughters, the elderly, and the innocent — even in the course of war. This is the law that Islam has promulgated.
Islam declares:
وَإِن جَنَحُوا لِلسَّلْمِ فَاجْنَحْ لَهَا
"And if they incline to peace, then incline to it." (Al-Anfal, 8:61) — That is, if people incline toward peace, then you also incline toward peace. And if a non-Muslim community comes to a peace agreement, their rights must also be observed.
The ruling about non-Muslims: Islam does not allow fighting. If a group of non-Muslims is with you as a protected community (dhimmis), then observing their rights and protecting them as a religious duty falls upon the Islamic state. If the Islamic state cannot protect them, it must charge a jizyah (a protection tax) — as was done by Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah when he returned the jizyah collected from the dhimmis because he was unable to protect them.
Dear friends! Islam is a foundational principle — and that principle is reverence for life.