Burning is not the choice

Coolness and peace was the fire on Abraham (p), punishment by burn is not a new habit, the "sati" is an old Hindu religious funeral practice among some Indian communities, in which a recently widowed woman would have immolated herself on her husband’s funeral, by burning herself with her ​​husband's body.

The phenomenon of impunity by burn in many cultures was related to cleansing ritual, due to the fire "disinfectant powers". Burning witches in the Middle Ages in Europe was beacuse they are the source of most evil.

However, recently a new close phenomenon is increasing under the name of "Bou Azizi-a", ragarding to the Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on, and made some think that he triggered the revolutions that swept the Arab world. Regardless of the validity of this speech, this individual phenomenon turned into a mass phenomenon ventured by a number of young people who burned themselves as an expression of their anger and revenge of their social status.

After more than a year, Morocco has seen similar cases when five young men set fire to themselves, also in Jordan, Bahrain, Tunisia, the same step. What is the point of view of religion and sociology in this phenomenon? 

TNA (Beirut office) interviewed Ali Sayyed Fadlallah and Dr. in sociology, Ms. Sahar Mustafa to answer this question within a socio-religious approach.

According to Dr. Mustafa, some people consider that the skin is the cross-line with the outside, so they protest against the injustice of others through burning the skin".

"Some explain this phenomenon is that individuals who consider themselves living in hell in this world, that its Ok to throw themselves into the fire voluntarily, the subject of suicide in all its forms gave many social interpretations of the phenomenon that was considered until the nineteenth century as a kind of insanity or mental disease," she explained.

In principle, it may not for a person to kill himself unless there is significant interest that depends on killing himself, and this is the way to access these necessary public interest, confirmed Sayyed Ali Fadlallah.

He does not see that "this is the only method which express the suffering of the community, or motivate it to move and face the deviant reality, there are other means, such as strikes, marches, media platforms and human rights." 

He stressed that "life enjoy great respect in the Islamic law, and must not endanger or to die with the availability of other means to effect, and many of these revolutions and protests, which started and led its role and achieved the results, excluded this phenomenon.

For her side, Dr. Mustafa pointed out that "its an era dominated by the attraction of strange and spectacular thoughts, especially within the decline of spiritual values ​​and the presence of a great percentage of brutal capitalism that increase the gap in communities and marginalize large segments of society."

On the other hand, he distinguishes between this phenomen and the martyrdom operations, which is one of the methods to face of the enemy, and that irrigation is not the principle, but only in case of necessity and the exception, stressing on the need to be behind it, "a necessary major interest", and after a study by the competent legal authorities and experts in the field of military and security.