A hunger strike to get a demand accepted

Question

Question: For many days now there has been a rise in the price of yarn here, because of which hundreds of thousands of weavers have fallen into hardship and hunger. The government was repeatedly asked to arrange for the weavers to obtain yarn at a reasonable price, but the government paid no attention to it. Compelled by this, the weavers here decided to go on a hunger strike (refusing food in protest) to get their demand accepted by the government.

Answer

This demand is not, in the Shari‘a, such that getting it accepted would be wajib. A hunger strike to the point that life is lost is impermissible in the Shari‘a. To save a life, even the prohibition of a haram thing is lifted, and in a state of dire necessity (idtirar) eating it becomes wajib.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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