Egypt's Al-Azhar University, the chief center of religious learning in the Sunni Muslim world, has said that Sharia Law outlaws suicide as an expression of anger or protest.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, the university said that Islam strictly prohibits suicide for any reason, and those who recently attempted suicide by setting themselves on fire might be suffering from a mental or psychological disorder that compelled them to do so.
Five people have set themselves on fire in protest over the past two days in Egypt. They are believed to be copycats of a Tunisian man who set himself on fire in front of Tunisia's presidential palace last month.
Security forces on Tuesday thwarted a fifth attempt at self-immolation when they prevented 65-year-old accountant Ali Sayyed from setting himself on fire outside of the parliament building by dousing himself with alcohol and setting himself alight. He later said he was not trying to take his own life.
On the same day, also in front of parliament, 50-year-old lawyer Mohamed Farouk Hussein also attempted to set himself on fire.
In the evening, 53-year-old Mohamed Ashour Mohamed likewise tried to set himself on fire in front of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate in downtown Cairo. He was stopped by building security before he could carry out the act.
Just one day earlier, 49-year-old restaurant owner Abdo Abdel Moneim Gaafar set himself on fire in front of the parliament building and was taken to hospital.
On Tuesday, a young unemployed man in Alexandria died from the injuries he sustained after setting himself on fire on the roof of a building.
