A Frenchman has committed suicide by throwing himself off the roof of the Grand Mosque in Islam’s holiest city of Makkah, Saudi and French officials said on Saturday.
?A foreigner threw himself from the roof of the Grand Mosque in Makkah? to the courtyard below, ?resulting in his instant death?, Saudi police told the official SPA news agency.
A French foreign ministry official told AFP in Paris that the dead man was French but gave no further details.
The rare act was not the first of its kind to take place in Makkah, the holiest city in Islam ? which, like other monotheistic religions, prohibits suicide.
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The body was transported to hospital, with an investigation underway ?to determine the victim’s identity, what led to the act and how he was able to commit it despite the existence of a metal fence?, SPA said.
Last year, a Saudi man tried to set himself on fire in front of the Kaaba ? the square stone building in the centre of the mosque compound ? but was stopped by security forces.
Every year, millions of Muslim pilgrims from across the world travel to Makkah and Madina, Islam’s second holiest site, also in western Saudi Arabia.
Mental illness? An overwhelming, persistent feeling of despair?
Maybe the suicide stemmed from a feeling of resentment (mixed with despair) toward Allah. Or maybe stemmed from a deep feeling of guilt? People who self-injure do so for various reasons and among them is the desire to punish themselves (through cutting, inflicting wounds) as a way of compensation. Unless further information is revealed by authorities, one can only guess as to the reasons and internal state of the person.
How can you be so certain that this guy was devout? There’s nothing in the article to suggest this.
He may or may not be devout. He could be among the many Muslims that struggle with performing their 5 daily prayers, but still visit the Haram Pak.
Also, what he did negates devoutness.
We don’t know why he chose such a place. We can only venture guesses. Maybe he knew that suicide was a grave sin, but hoped that Allah would go easier on Him if he took his life in Masjid e Haram. It’s said that the person who commits suicide will kill themselves repeatedly in the same manner as punishment. Maybe he was aware of this punishment and reasoned to himself that it would be more bearable for him if he had to face it in Makkah.
Maybe his thoughts were so warped that he viewed his actions not as a sin, but as a sacrifice…and thought that the muqaddas location would make the sacrifice more honorable. Maybe he felt tremendous guilt for his actions and took his own life as a way of compensation which is the type of thought process that self-injurers can have. Or maybe he harbored resentment toward Allah and thought (out of spite). There are people who have the mentality that, "If I’m going to do something wrong (lying, cheating, theft, etc)…then I might as well go all-out…cross all limits…saari haddain paar karna…go out with a bang that makes a statement/impression. Again, we can only guess. We don’t even know whether his mindset was one of pure guilt/defeat/despair…or if it also contained resentment.
It’s sad what happened. And although the vast majority of pilgrims would not fathom doing something like this, such acts might inspire someone out their that is internally disturbed and that’s scary.
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