News & Comment
Western Capitalistic Governments to Motivate Its Own Citizens to Terminate their Lives

News

The Dutch government wants to adjust the Euthanasia Act so that people who aren’t sick, but feel that their life is completed, can end their lives with assisted suicide. This will only be allowed under “strict and rigorous criteria”, the government wrote to parliament. The majority of parliamentarians support the plan. (NLTimes)

Comment

Since 2002 euthanasia (self-killing) is legal in The Netherlands. Regardless of age, it is possible for its citizens who are “terminally” ill or suffering from “unbearable” pain to request a termination of their lives through “qualified” and official agencies. Even children under a certain age can apply, with the consent of their parents or guardian. To give an idea about the extent of these official requests for determination of life in just one year, it’s sufficient to look to the recent official statistics of the past two years. In 2014 a staggering 5306 request were made and in 2015 this number increased by another 10% (additional of 477 requests). And this trend is climbing upwards.

Even though in some western countries euthanasia is not legal, it is also not illegal. It is often tolerated to some kind of extent. So the general overview is that this idea is accepted or is in the process of being accepted, as a solution.

The Dutch government, with this new request has taken it one step further by pushing forward the idea to extend the euthanasia-law for people who are not sick but are merely “suffering with life” as they put it! This means that citizens who are “tired of life”, “feel that their life has no meaning” or think “that it is already completed”, can end their lives with the assistance of government appointed agencies.

Promoting and legalising this death cult is really worrying and problematic. What kind of message are these states giving to its people? “Our solution is not in life itself but in death and we will help you achieve it.” The reasoning of the Dutch government behind this absurd idea is that “the state should show mercifulness.”

It is not possible to comprehend this bizarre understanding of mercifulness or these inhuman incentives of western capitalistic governments to motivate its own citizens to terminate their lives, unless you evaluate it within the capitalistic ideological framework.

A framework where material benefit is the core and sole value in life and accordingly the human is considered a consumer. Consequently, human life is only worth something if it is productive and brings along material value, otherwise it is depreciated and motivated to end its life.

This is not solely an intellectual deduction of the philosophy of capitalism but the application and reality of its ideas in real life for the past two centuries. It has proven itself as a rotten and murderous ideology which causes death and destruction to humanity.

Whereas Islam calls for life and honours the human.

(يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَجِيبُواْ لِلّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُم لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ وَاعْلَمُواْ أَنَّ اللّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ)

“O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. And know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart and that to Him you will be gathered.” [TMQ 8: 24]. And

وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ وَحَمَلْنَاهُمْ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَرَزَقْنَاهُم مِّنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَفَضَّلْنَاهُمْ عَلَى كَثِيرٍ مِّمَّنْ خَلَقْنَا تَفْضِيلاً

“We have certainly honoured the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference.” [TMQ 17:70]

It is clear that the solution for mankind can’t be sought through an ideology which calls for death instead of life. The Muslims have understood this and soon humanity will see it. The future is for Islam.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Okay Pala
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in the Netherlands