On the importance of martyrdom in Islam

“The best death is martyrdom.” (Holy Prophet (S), Biharul Anwar, Vol. 67,p.?)

“Self-sacrifice is the best (form of) benevolence and the highest stage of faith.” (Ghurar Al-Hikam wa Durar Al-Kalim, Aphorism 10, “On self-sacrifice”)

Martyrdom in Islam is a major concept. Anyone who fails to grasp the meaning of martyrdom, will also not understand the sublime message in Islam. “Islam” means submission, to God, and it is in martyrdom that this submission to God finds its full expression. “In Islamic Ideology, the greatest aim in the life’s struggle is to become victorious over the self.” (“Self-Building”, Ayatullah Ibrahim Amini)

The submission of the reasoning, feeling creation of God that is humankind, means that all human life belongs to God, and to God it returns. Man is to have no cares and desires other than being close to God, in complete servitude. So submission to God is the first duty we have as Muslims, as believers. We are not owned by our affection for the material world, our belongings, even our family; we are owned only by God, He is our pivot in life.

“A martyr cuts off his heart from the kindness of a mother, from the shadow of a father, from the smile of his child, from the love of his wife; and moves towards his duty to perform it.” (Ayatullah Khamenei)

How do we achieve this submission, becoming victorious over the self?

If the greatest aim is to win the jihad over the self (the jihad over the self being the major jihad, ranked higher even the jihad in battle), how do we do that? This is where the understanding of submission, and the resulting acceptance of martyrdom, assists. If man understands that he has to free himself of all attachment to the material world and all that it entails, and turn to God, seeking only closeness to Him, then he loses all his wordly concerns. He is not affected by any misfortunes or sufferings in this world he may have to endure. He realises that this life and all in it is but temporary.

A man thus free of wordly concerns, becomes cognizant that he receives everything from God, and that all will be returned to God. He no longer worries for the whims and cares of his own self. He finds true spiritual freedom and contentment in this understanding. “The foundation of contentment is complete reliance on Allah.” (Ghurar Al-Hikam wa Durar Al-Kalim, Aphorism 1, “Relying on Allah”) He is victorious over his own self.

“A struggler overlooks everything belonging to him; above everything else he overlooks his own life and surrenders his entire existence to God-Almighty with absolute sincerity; he closes his eyes from wealth, power, position, wife, children, and relatives, thus, suddenly surrendering his soul to God-Almighty.” (Self-Building, Ayatullah Ibrahim Amini)

Having reached this victory in the jihad over the self, what about martyrdom?

We might ask, now that man has overcome his self and won the “greatest jihad”, does he really need to continue towards martyrdom?

The Holy Prophet (S) has said: “For every virtue, there is another higher virtue except when a human being sacrifices his life for the sake of God-Almighty. And in that case there exists nothing superior than that.” (Wasail al-Shi’a, Vol. 11, p.10)

The greatest gift man can give to Allah in his submission is his life.

As man must die and return to God, and the death of the martyr is ranked higher than the death which befalls us not through our choice (illness, accident): “Verily the most honourable of deaths is martyrdom. By He in whose hand my soul is, one thousand strikes with the sword are indeed easier (for me) than dying on the bed.” (Ghurar Al-Hikam wa Durar Al-Kalim, Aphorism 1, “Martyrdom in the way of Allah”)

Martydom, then, is to be sought out in its own right, as it is the better death.

Does the position of man change having achieved martyrdom, compared to an “ordinary” death?

“But do not think of those that have been slain in God’s cause as dead. Nay, they are alive! With their sustainer have they their sustenance.” (Surah Ali-Imran, 3: 169-172)

“And say not of those who are slain in God’s cause, “They are dead”: nay, they are alive, but you perceive it not.” (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2: 154)

The understanding is that those martyred in their love for Allah gain more “closeness” to God, compared to those “dying on the bed.”

The culture of martyrdom in Islam, and Shia Islam, of celebrating the martyrs: the role models in the history of the Ahlul Bayt

The celebration of martyrdom relates to reaching the highest rank as a person, sacrificing one’s life in God’s cause. It relates to choosing the “best death”, and also to the other struggle which a Muslim is required to undertake: the struggle to come to the aid of the oppressed.

“Continue on the path of fighting injustice which is an extension of the blood spilt in Karbala and continue combating oppression and injustice until the last drop of your blood.” (Hezbollah martyr Kaiser Zainuddin)

Amongst the martyrs of the family of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), the Ahlul Bayt, fowling after Imam Ali and Imam Hassan, Imam Husayn is known as the king of martyrs, shah-e-shahidan, for it was he who sacrificed his life by bearing witness to Islam. “He cannot remain silent because he has a duty to fight against oppression.” (Arise and Bear Witness) In the celebration of Husayn  in particular, we witness the centrality of martyrdom to the doctrine of submission to Allah. Husayn has nothing to give, no wealth, no army, to combat the enemy, to stand up to the oppressors, the corruptors. He must give what he does have, his blood, his life, and with him the supporters and family who have come with him.

“Martyrdom is not a loss, it is a choice, a choice, whereby the warrior sacrifices himself on the temple of freedom and the altar of love and is victorious.” (Arise and Bear Witness)

Husayn’s martyrdom has passed this love for Allah in submission to Him, his rising against the oppressors with his own blood, down the generations of the Ahlul Bayt, to our present time, and it is surely also with the hidden, twelfth Imam. The Muslims’ love for the Holy prophet (PBUH) continues through the Ahlul Bayt, and is reinvigorated through its martyrs. The present day martyrs of the battle field are just as much part of that love, and their love for Allah(swt) and the Ahlul Bayt finds its highest expression in their self-sacrifice.

It is in (Husayn’s) period that “dying” for a human being guarantees the “life” of a nation. His martyrdom is a means whereby faith can remain.” (Arise and Bear Witness)

Martyrdom is Islam’s history, and as new years, decades and centuries are added to its history, so too will its martyrs.

“Martyrdom has been the pride of the messengers of Allah and it is our pride as well.” (Khomeini)

 

Bibliography

Ayatullah Ibrahim Amini, Self-Building

Biharul Anwar, Volume 67

Ghurar Al-Hikam wa Durar Al-Kalim, Exalted Aphorisms and Pearls of Speech. A Collection of Aphorisms of Imam ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib

 Dr Ali Shariati, Arise and Bear Witness

Wasail-al-Shi’a, vol.11, p.10

World Islamic Network: Excerpts from the Holy Qur’an, an Eternal Guidance to Mankind