According to Islamic tradition, "he who gives his life for an Islamic cause will have his sins forgiven and a place reserved in paradise."
But Christine Huda Dodge, About's Guide to Islam, insists that suicide is forbidden in Islam. Though "fighting oppression is commendable," Dodge points out that "harming innocent bystanders, even in times of war, was forbidden by the Prophet Muhammad."
Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al Sheik, the supreme religious leader of Saudi Arabia, issued a fatwa (religious edict) in April that equated suicide bombings with suicide, which therefore is not allowed in Islam.
In response, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, a leading doctrinal authority in the Sunni Muslim world, wrote in Egypt's Al Ahram that "if a person blows himself up, as in operations that Palestinian youths carry out against those they are fighting, then he is a martyr. But if he explodes himself among babies or women or old people who are not fighting the war, then he is not considered a martyr."
The bottom line is not entirely clear among Islamic clerics. Sheik Yousef al Qaradawi, a moderate Egyptian cleric told the Qatari newspaper Al Raya in April, "They are not suicide operations. These are heroic martyrdom operations, and the heroes who carry them out don't embark on this action out of hopelessness and despair but are driven by an overwhelming desire to cast terror and fear into the hearts of the oppressors."