Istishhad
Istishhad is the Arabic word for "martyrdom", "death of a martyr", or "heroic death". Martyrs are given the honorific shaheed. The word derives from the Semitic root shahida, meaning "to witness". Traditionally martyrdom has an exalted place in Islam.
It is widely believed among Muslims that the sins of believers who "die in the way of God" will be forgiven by Allah.
Shia views on martyrdom have been profoundly influenced by internal Muslim conflicts, notably Husayn ibn Ali's martyrdom at Karbala in 680, shaping it as a central belief and practice.
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the term istishhad has been redefined by Jihadists to emphasize the "heroism" of sacrifice, rather than portraying it as an act of victimization. This concept has evolved into a military and political strategy known among Jihadist groups as "martyrdom operations". although Western media commonly refer to them as suicide attacks. These acts contain "a central ideological pillar and organizational ideal" of waging "active jihad against the perceived enemies of Islam". Sunni Islamist figures such as Hassan Al-Banna viewed martyrdom as a duty incumbent upon every Muslim, urging them to ready themselves for it and to excel in the "art of death". Contemporary Shi'ite perspectives on martyrdom have commonly followed similar paths.
The rise of deaths of Muslims in conflicts spanning regions such as Palestine, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, Iraq, and Iran has been accompanied by extensive literature glorifying these martyrs' actions. Jihadist terror groups, in particular Al-Qaeda, have "employed innovative modes of action and raised suicide terrorism's level of destruction and fatalities to previously unknown heights". Osama bin Laden referred to Muslims who had been massacred in numerous conflicts as evidence that the world regarded Muslims lives as "cheap" in his "declaration of war" on the United States in 1996.
Importance
Significance in afterlife
Quranic verses 3:169-171 is said to indicate that the sins of believers who "die in the way of God" will be forgiven by Allah, and transported to paradise, without having to wait for Judgement Day like other believers.Social and psychological impact
The cultural reverence for martyrs does not mean that there is no grief in families whose loved one has been martyred.A psychological research study interviewed surviving widows and children of men who were killed by terrorist Baruch Goldstein who carried out a mass shooting at the mosque in Hebron where the men were praying on 25 February 1994.
The researchers found that half of the daughters interview and a substantial proportion of their wives and sons had clinically measurable symptoms of PTSD.
They concluded that traumatic bereavement still occurs in societies with religious admiration of dead martyrs.
Scripture
A martyr is considered one whose place in Paradise is promised according to these verses in the Quran:There are at least five different kinds of martyrs according to the following hadith:
Shia Muslims
often refer to the martyrdom of Hussain ibn Ali and his companions and family members in the Battle of Karbala as role models and inspiration for martyrdom as a glorious and noble death.and assassinations
Progressive and conservative Muslims both refer to victims of terrorism as martyrs. The term often overlaps with secular patriotic concepts of dying for one's country.Attacks on mosques
Victims of terrorist attacks are regarded as martyrs, particularly attacks on mosques, because this means Muslims have been targeted for their faith or died while performing religious duties such as prayers.1994 Hebron massacre
One of the most influential attacks on a mosque was the 1994 Hebron massacre.Christchurch mosque massacre
The people killed in the Christchurch mosque massacre are commonly referred to as "Shaheeds" or "Shuhada" by their surviving relatives and other Muslims paying them respect and honouring their memory.Widows of Shuhada was the name of a Radio New Zealand documentary series.
The series told the stories of the widows and children of four martyred men. The men were four of the 51 people killed by an Australian terrorist in the mass shootings on 15 March, 2019 at the Al-Noor mosque in the Linwood suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand.
Assassinations and bystanders
Muslims from a very wide variety of cultures, sects, and political ideologies regard people who are assassinated or executed as martyrs.This often overlaps with nationalism and other secular concepts of martyrdom about dying serving one's country or dying in the service of other secular ideals.
Indian lawyer Shahid Azmi is occasionally referred to as "Shaheed Shahid Azmi" because he was assassinated, or "Shaheed Advocate Shahid Azmi", adding a title used to describe his role as a defence lawyer.
Azmi defended young Muslims in India who had been wrongly accused of terrorism.
Muslims are a persecuted minority in India where Hindutva and other Hindu nationalism are increasingly dominant ideologies.
Azmi was 32 years old when he died.
Reports that describe his death as martyrdom say he sacrificed his life for truth and justice.
A particularly notable example of a progressive Muslim who was assassinated by terrorists is Benazir Bhutto, leader of the progressive left wing Pakistan People's Party, and former Prime Minister of Pakistan. She was assassinated in 2007 by a teenage extremist, who is thought to be connected to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.
Many things in Pakistan, were named or renamed in her honour, referring to her by the title "shaheed" .
Most of them related to education, particularly women's education, but there were also others, including Shaheed Benazirabad District in the province of Sindh. The district, previously known as Nawabshah District, was renamed in September 2008 when members of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh from Nawabshah lobbied for the district be renamed in her honour.
Benazir's father and political predecessor, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was executed by a military dictator and is also memorialized as a martyr.
Conservative Muslims also refer to assassinated leaders as martyrs. For example, Ismail Haniyeh – the civilian political leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement – was assassinated by a bomb secretly planted in the bedroom where he slept while visiting Iran, killing Haniyeh and his bodyguard.
The office of the Turkish president referred to Haniyeh's death as "his martyrdom".
Palestinian sources in English also referred to Haniyeh as a "martyr" and referred to his death as "martyrdom".
The same words were used in a translation of a statement by Hamas was published by Al-Jazeera English.
Suicide attacks on security forces
Members of the military and security forces who are killed by enemy suicide bombers are seen as martyrs.When an ISIS suicide bomber blew himself up at Rafah crossing in 2017, the border guard who was killed attempting to stop the bomber crossing into Egypt, a member of Hamas' Qassam Brigades, was described as a "martyr" in English and "shaheed" in Arabic and his death was described as martyrdom.
This language was used by Palestinian media, some international media, and even the bomber's family.
The bomber's family condemned him publicly, describing his actions as unpatriotic and criminal, and announced they would not be holding funeral services for him.
Media referred to the bomber as a suicide bomber and not a martyr.
Gaza's clans referred to the bombing as an act of suicide terrorism.
Dying in battle and casualties of war
Nationalist and patriotic ideas of martyrdom
In militaries of Muslim majority nations, concepts and terminology of religious martyrdom overlap with more secular nationalist ideals of dying for one's country.Martyrdom in Afghanistan
According to the English language website of Ariana News, Zabiullah Mujahid, deputy minister of information and culture and spokesperson of the Government of Afghanistan announced the formation of an Istishhad battalion, which will be part of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan special forces.Martyrdom in Algeria
Martyrdom in Iran
Ruhollah Khomeini's views on martyrdom
"Imam" Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the Iranian Revolution, not only praised the large numbers of young Shia Iranians who became "shahids" during the Iran–Iraq War but asserted the war was "God's hidden gift", or as one scholar of Khomeini put it, "a vital outlet through which Iran's young martyrs experienced mystical transcendence". Khomeini explained:"If the great martyr ... confined himself to praying... the great tragedy of Kabala would not have come about... Among the contemporary ulema, if the great Ayatollah... Shirazi... thought like these people , a war would not have taken place in Iraq... all those Muslims would not have been martyred."
Death might seem like a tragedy to some but in reality...
If you have any tie or link binding you to this world in love, try to sever it. This world, despite all its apparent splendor and charm, is too worthless to be loved.
Khomeini never wavered from his faith in the war as God's will, and observers have related a number of examples of his impatience with those who tried to convince him to negotiate an end to the war even when it had become a stalemate with hundreds of thousands killed and civilian areas being attacked by missiles.
Some scholars argue that the idea of martyrdom was transform by Khomeini from the traditional Shi'i belief of "a saintly act", usually referring "the famous Shi'i saints who in obeying God's will, had gone to their deaths"; to "revolutionary sacrifice" done "to overthrow a despotic political order"; and that Khoemini was heavily influenced by Iranian leftists individuals and groups active in the 1960s such as Ali Shariati, the Tudeh Party, Mojahedin, Hojjat al-Islam Nimatollah Salahi-Najafabadi.