More than 1,800 Pakistani Muslim clerics issued the fatwa forbidding suicide bombings in a book unveiled by the government earlier today.
For years the country has been plagued by violence by Islamist militants, who preach their struggle is a holy war to impose Islamic rule.
Suicide attacks are frequently condemned as fanatical and immoral, especially when civilians are killed, but insurgents view the tactic as their most effective weapon.
Seeking to curb terrorism that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths since the early 2000s, the clerics have now declared suicide bombings to be forbidden, or “haraam”.
Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain said: “This fatwa provides a strong base for the stability of a moderate Islamic society.
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“We can seek guidance from this fatwa for building a national narrative in order to curb extremism, in keeping with the golden principles of Islam.”
Critics of Pakistan’s government and military say they have ignored hate preachers in mosques for too long and accuse them of cosying up to radical groups for political and military purposes.
The fatwa was ratified by a number of prominent clerics who are outspoken critics of liberalism and the West and are seen as controversial for preaching sectarianism or supporting the Afghan Taliban.
One of the clerics who signed, Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, is the face of a banned sectarian organisation, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat (ASWJ), and has been placed on a Pakistani legislative list of individuals with suspected links to “terrorism”.
The ASWJ figurehead, Aurangzeb Farooqi, also attended the signing ceremony.
Another signatory, Hamid-ul-Haq, is the son of a cleric widely regarded as the “Father of the Afghan Taliban” after many prominent militants, including Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar, were found to have graduated from his seminary in the northwestern city of Peshawar.