he concept of suicide can be seen in different rates depending on the communities and it should not be accepted only as a psychiatric disorder due to its complicated moral, social-economic and cultural aspects.

The attempts for committing suicide are seen mostly in developed comunities with a high standard of  social and economic conditions and it is seen 3-4 times more in males in comparison with the females.

It is also very interesting that most of the cases of suicide correspond to the time of  puberty.
It makes itself felt under conditions where the healthy thinking becoems  very limited.
Under these conditions the individual does not know how to direct himself.
He can do very crazy things and all of  a  sudden decides to take a step forward for death.
We can state the cases where there is a high risk of  suicide as depression, old age,  psychological and organic disorders, schizophrenia, manic depression, alcoholism and personality disorders.

We can define the act of committing suicide as the person opening his whole self  to his death which he sees as an objective or a tool and this is done through his own overwhelming desire.
Those who prefer death to life commit suicide, because they think that life is no more worth living.
In any society thousands of people cannot solve their physical and psychological problems and cannot take the curve on the road of  life and choose to give an end to their lives. However, while doing so they cannot see how the ones they’ve left behind become miserable.

We can see that this unfortunate event caused by  repeated factors  that damage  the individual’s honour, and insult him plants the seeds for lots of  chronic disasters of  the future.

It would be an exaggeration to say that the one who has committed suicide was thinking and behaving as a normal person before this.
Mostly, before the act of  suicide it can be observed that the person may be violent or unusally calm…
The feelings of  affection do not reach this dimension, all the positive influences become useless and the death tours around comfortably. So, when such a dimension will grasp the person in loneliness, it will knock him down, shape whatever it wants and this would be enough for those weak people who cannot resist to give an end to their lives.
The reasons that cause the individual to commit suicide could be their own problems as wells the motivation given by the communities who want to find a valid reason for their ideas which they think are right.
I think  we have all gone through such examples.
The interesting point is that in rich societies with a  high standard of living, the individuals have reached the point of satisfaction;   there is nothing with which  they can make themselves busy  or due to their complexes and due to the fact that they do not have a feeling of  faith, belief  they fall into emptiness and consider the suicide as something that cannot be avoided.
The most concrete examples of this can be seen in Japan. In this most developed country of the world there are lots of  suicides. It looks as if the Japanese society is giving a premium for suicide at the end of  any unsuccessful attempt. In this country  suicide is a normal, usual event to which the people have become used to.  The Japanese people accept the suicide as a reason and they find in themselves the power to do this which is really difficult to understand.

When we look at the statistics we can see that in the recent years the events of  suicide have increased considerably in the recent years.  At the beginning of the 1980’s the number of people who have committed suicide  was around fifteen thousand, however in 1990 it has become more than twenty thousand.  According to the statistics of the year 2000, it is over thirty thousand.
The reasons of  this act is explained by the Japanese people. Along with making use of the blessings of  the technology that has reached incredible dimensions,  the exteremely high level of stress in case of  being unsuccessful causes the individual to look for happiness and the means of  saving themselves in some other place. For example, following the path of  the great sufi Mawlana.  Every year lots of  Japanese people come to the celebrations held in Konya in the memory of   Mawlana. This is a very good indicator for what we have said before.

This event is very interesting from the point of showing that reaching the welfare point does not mean everything.
Towards the end of  life the attempt to commit suicide may show itself  by any reason and under conditions which are not natural.  This is defined as something negative as it deprives the individual from the ability of  normal thinking.
Such horrifying events are not accepted and approved by the society.
In mysticism too there isn’t any compromise for attempts of suicide.
Those who know the meaning of  the name Allah and what the concept of  sin means,  never think about suicide.
Hz.Mohammad (s.a.v) considers suicide as very great action which cannot be forgiven and he places lots of importance on this.
In a hadith regarding this subject he says:
-The one who has committes suicide by jumping from a high place will be punished in hell and he will be thrown into fire from high places eternally.
The one who dies because of drinking the poison will be punished and he will drink poison in hell till eternity.
If a person kills himself by using a piece of iron will go to hell with that piece of iron and will  stick that iron rod into the different parts of his body eternally. This will be his punishment.

Also, the Koran stops the attempts for suicide by saying ‘’do not put yourselves in danger by your own hands’’ in the verse 2/195.

Hz. Rasul of  Allah has not joined the funeral salat of  a person who has committed suicide and said ‘’the funeral salat of  a person who has committed suicide is not performed’’.  As a body whose life has been given an end in this manner is deprived of  the advantages brought along by the funeral salat…
In the criminal law helping another for committing suicide is a crime which should be punished heavily.
Yes, of course there are lots of things to be said about this, however   there are also lots of reasons that connect one to this universe.

İstanbul- April 25^th 2001
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