Paying ransom to kidnappers, forbidden – Prof. Maqari

An Islamic cleric has said payment of ransom to kidnappers is haram (forbidden) as it goes against prophetic teachings. In a video, widely circulated online, Prof. Ibrahim Ahmad Maqari, noted that payment of ransom empowers and emboldens kidnappers to continue with their nefarious act.

Maqari, an Imam at the National Mosque and a lecturer of Arabic Studies, said: “It’s haram to seek donations to release a loved one. “It was narrated that someone once came to the Prophet that a man wanted to forcefully take his money from him, the Prophet told him not to allow him take the money. Thereafter, he asked: what if the person fights me to get it, he responded: fight him back. He asked again, what if I kill the assailant, the prophet said: he will go to hellfire. He continued: what if I were to be killed, the prophet said: you will go to Al-jannah. This shows that it is not right to give money when someone is kidnapped. “At the end, the kidnapper will be in loss after the terrible efforts used in the ungodly act. They’ll lose the money in feeding the victims, the bullet used during the operation and the time spent.

“For the victims killed, it was their time of a death as decreed by Allah. We’ll all die, either at that moment or in the future. Dying in the hands of kidnappers is a form of a death of a Shahid, martyr, if Allah wills. If we do not hold on to the practice established by Islam, how will the crime be put to an end?”