Martyrdom

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This article is about Martyrdom. For other article named Shahada, see Shahada (disambiguation).

Martyrdom or al-Shahāda (Arabic: الشهادة) is to be killed on the path of God, which is referred to in hadiths as the greatest good and the most honored death. Quranic verses and hadiths attribute effects to martyrdom such as staying alive, having the right for intercession, and forgiveness of sins.

According to jurists, a martyr (shahid) does not need to be given a funeral bath and shroud, and touching his or her corpse does not require ghusl (ritual bath) of touching the corpse. These rulings are specific to martyrs in the battlefield, and do not include those are otherwise killed on the path of God or count as martyrs.

In Iran, Esfand 22/March 12 or 13, is called the day of martyr.

The Notion

Martyrdom is to be killed on the path of God. A person killed on the path of God is called a martyr.[1] In Islamic jurisprudence, a martyr is a Muslim who is killed in the battlefield by disbelievers or because of fighting with the disbelievers.[2]

According to Tafsir-i nimuna, martyrdom has specific and general senses. In its specific sense, martyrdom is a jurisprudential notion, and in its general sense, any person who is killed or dies while doing his or her duties is a martyr. Thus, there are hadiths according to which any person who dies while seeking knowledge, any person who dies in his bed while believing in God, the Prophet (s), and his Household, and any person who is killed while defending his property against aggressors count as martyrs.[3]

Appellation of "Shahid"

In Arabic dictionaries, the term "shahada" is said to mean presence, testimony, and observation.[4] Given this, the following grounds for the appellation of "shahid" are noted:

  • A martyr is observed by the angels of divine mercy.
  • God and angels testify that the martyr goes to heaven.
  • The martyr does not die, but is present before his or her Lord.
  • The martyr observes things that others cannot observe.[5]
  • The martyrs observes the deeds of others on the day of resurrection].[6]

The Place

There are many hadiths about the status and virtue of martyrdom. For example, martyrdom is deemed the greatest good[7] and the most honored death,[8] and some other deaths are likened to martyrdom in their rewards.[9] Moreover, in supplications transmitted from the Fourteen Infallibles (a), God is asked for martyrdom,[10] martyrdom under the Prophet’s banner,[11] and martyrdom in the hands of the worst people.[12]

In the Quran, martyrdom is referred to as "being killed on the path of God."[13] In books of jurisprudence, martyrdom and martyr are discussed in the section on cleanliness (tahara).[14]

Rewards of Martyrdom

Quranic verses and hadiths point to rewards of martyrdom, including:

  • Being alive: according to Quranic verses, those who are killed on the path of God are not dead, but are aliv[15]e and are provided for near their Lord.[16]
  • The right for intercession: along with prophets and scholars, martyrs intercede for other people on the day of resurrection.[17]
  • Forgiveness of sins and God’s mercy:[18] according to a hadith from Imam al-Baqir (a), when the first drop of a martyr flows, all of his sins are forgiven, except the rights of people.[19] As for the rights of people, if he had the intention to compensate for it, God would compensate it and satisfy the person of interest.[20]

Jurisprudential Rulings of Martyrs in the Battlefield

Jurists have mentioned exclusive rulings for those who are martyred in battlefields:

  • A person who is martyred in the battlefield does not need to be given a ritual bath (ghusl).[23] However, a person who is injured in the battlefield and then martyred after the war should be given a ritual bath.[24]
  • A person who is martyred in the battlefield is not shrouded.[25] Instead, he is buried with his own clothes,[26] unless he has no clothes on, in which case he should be shrouded.[27]
  • Hanut (wiping camphor on seven parts of the dead body, which touch the ground during prostration) is not obligatory in the case of martyrs, since hanut is done after shrouding, which is not obligatory for martyrs.[29]

These rulings apply to those who have attended a war with the permission of an Infallible (a) or his special deputy.[30]

Moreover, according to the majority of jurists, these rulings also apply to those who are killed while defending against the invasion of enemy in period of Occultation with the permission of a general deputy of the Imam (that is, a qualified jurist).[31] In contrast, while al-Shahid al-Thani believes that these people count as martyrs, he holds that the rulings of martyrs in battlefields do not apply to them.[32]

Martyrdom of Shiite Imams

According to a number of Shiite scholars, all Imams of the Shi'a (a) were martyred.[33] This is grounded in a number of hadiths, including the following: "I swear to God that all of us are murdered and martyred," which implies that all Imams of the Shia were martyred.[34] In contrast, in his Tashih al-iʿtiqadat al-Imamiyya, [[al-Shaykh al-Mufid believes that although Imam 'Ali (a), Imam al-Hasan (a), Imam al-Husayn (a), Imam al-Kazim (a), and Imam al-Rida (a) were martyred, there are doubts about the martyrdom of the other Imams (a).[35]

Martyrs in the Literature of the Islamic Republic of Iran

In the literature of the Islamic Republic of Iran, martyrs are those who are killed in defense of the achievements of the 1979 revolution and the Islamic government, the territorial integrity of Iran, and prevention of threats.[36] According to the laws of the Martyr Foundation of Iran, since the 1979 revolution to the beginning of 2021, about 220 thousand people count as martyrs.[37] In Iran, Martyr Foundation was established to take care of the affairs of the families of martyrs. Moreover, Esfand 22 (March 13) is named the Day of Martyr.[38]

Terminologies

There are terminologies used about martyrs, including:

  • Anonymous martyr: those killed in the Iran-Iraq battle whose identities could not be confirmed. In Iran, buildings are often constructed on their mausoleums, and on religious occasions, ceremonies are held on the graves.[40]
  • Shrine-defending martyrs: forces organized and sent by the Islamic Republic of Iran to fight ISIS and support the Syrian government, and then killed in the country. These forces are largely from Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan.[41]

In Iran, Esfand 22 (March 13) is called the Day of Martyr.

Bibliography

Books have been written about martyrdom and martyrs in Persian and Arabic, including:

  • Shuhadayi 'asr payambar (Martyrs of the age of the Prophet (s)) by Abu l-Fadl Banayi Kashi: this is an account of the martyrs of the period of the Prophet (s) in Persian. The chapters include pre-migration martyrs, martyrs of the Battle of Badr, martyrs of the Battle of Sawiq, martyrs of the Battle of Uhud, martyrs of Bi'r Ma'una, martyrs of the Battle of Khaybar, martyrs of the Battle of Ta'if, martyrs of the Battle of Hunayn, and martyrs the dates of whose martyrdom are unknown. The book was published in 2012-3 by Shahid Publications in 248 pages
  • Shuhada' al-fadila (Martyrs of virtue): This is an Arabic book by Abd al-Husayn Amini, in which biographies of 130 martyred scholars and the stories of their martyrdom are narrated. They were chosen from figures in the 14th and 15th/20th and 21st centuries. The book was translated into Persian under Shahidan rah-i fadilat (Martyrs of the path of virtue).
  • Shuhadayi sadr-i Islam wa-shuhadayi waqi'a-yi Karbala (Martyrs of the early Islam and martyrs of the Event of Karbala) by Sayyid 'Ali Akbar Qurashi: it was published by Navid Islam Publications in 2006-7 in 212 pages.[42]

Notes

  1. ↑ Maḥmūd ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Muʿjam al-muṣṭalaḥāt wa al-alfāẓ al-faqīh, vol. 2, p. 346.
  2. ↑ Maḥmūd ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Muʿjam al-muṣṭalaḥāt wa al-alfāẓ al-faqīh, vol. 2, p. 346.
  3. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 21, p. 407-408.
  4. ↑ Qurashī, Qāmūs-i Qurʾān, vol. 4, p. 74.
  5. ↑ Ṭurayḥī, majmaʿ al-baḥrayn, vol. 3, p. 81.
  6. ↑ Qurashī, Qāmūs-i Qurʾān, vol. 4, p. 77.
  7. ↑ Ibn Ḥayyūn, Daʿāʾim al-Islām, vol. 1, p. 343.
  8. ↑ Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 4, p. 402, hadith. 5868.
  9. ↑ See: Anṣārī, Kitāb al-ṭahāra, vol. 4, p. 404.
  10. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 95, p. 368; vol. 91, p. 239; vol. 94, p. 332.
  11. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 94, p. 376.
  12. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 94, p. 261.
  13. ↑ Qurashī, Qāmūs-i Qurʾān, vol. 4, p. 76.
  14. ↑ See: Ḥillī, Taḥrīr al-aḥkām, vol. 1, p. 3317.
  15. ↑ Qurʾān 2:154.
  16. ↑ Qurʾān 3:169.
  17. ↑ Ḥimyarī, Qurb al-isnād, vol. 1, p. 31.
  18. ↑ Qurʾān 3:157.
  19. ↑ Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 3, p. 183.
  20. ↑ Ṭūsī, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, vol. 6, p. 188, hadith. 395 and p. 191, hadith. 411; Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 5, p. 99.
  21. ↑ Qurʾān 9:111.
  22. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 71, p. 144.
  23. ↑ Anṣārī, Kitāb al-ṭahāra, vol. 4, p. 399.
  24. ↑ Ḥillī, Nihāyat al-aḥkām, vol. 2, p. 235.
  25. ↑ Anṣārī, Kitāb al-ṭahāra, vol. 4, p. 399.
  26. ↑ Anṣārī, Kitāb al-ṭahāra, vol. 4, p. 406.
  27. ↑ Anṣārī, Kitāb al-ṭahāra, vol. 4, p. 406-407.
  28. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 6, p. 307.
  29. ↑ Khoeī, al-Tanqīḥ, vol. 9, p. 182.
  30. ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al-ifhām, vol. 1, p. 82.
  31. ↑ See: Kāshif al-ghiṭāʾ, al-Nūr al-sāṭiʿ, vol. 1, p. 545.
  32. ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al-ifhām, vol. 1, p. 82.
  33. ↑ See: Ṣadūq, Al-Khiṣāl, VOL. 2, P. 528; Ṭabrisī, Iʿlām al-warā, vol. 2, p. 131-132; Ibn Shahrāshūb, Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib, vol. 2, p. 209.
  34. ↑ Ibn Shahrāshūb, Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib, vol. 2, p. 209; Ṭabrisī, Iʿlām al-warā, vol. 2, p. 131-132.
  35. ↑ Mufīd, Taṣḥīḥ al-iʿtiqād, p. 131, 132.
  36. ↑ The regulations for determining and verifying the examples of martyrs were announced (Persian).
  37. ↑ What is the number of Iranian martyrs? (Persian)
  38. ↑ What is the number of Iranian martyrs? (Persian)
  39. ↑ How many martyr of altar are there in Iran? and what are their names? (Persian)
  40. ↑ The concept of anonymity (Persian).
  41. ↑ Narration of the adviser of the commander of the Karbala army in Mazandaran from Khan Tuman (Persian).
  42. ↑ An overview of the book The Martyrs of Islam and the Martyrs of Karbala (Persian).

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