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Permalink Can You Choose To Be A Martyr?By G. Willow Wilson The cant of the suicide bomber is now familiar: Die for Allah and instantly attain paradise by becoming a shaheed, a martyr, who in death witnesses the face of God. Today, one need not be a warrior, a saint, or a brilliant dissenter who dies in pursuit of a noble cause to achieve this state; on the contrary, there is a simple formula. Strap a bomb to your chest and walk into a crowded market, with a philosophy first articulated by the architects of the Inquisition: Kill them all, God will recognize His own. have been issued declaring this kind of 'martyrdom' murder and apostasy because of the number of innocents who are inevitably killed, but little attention is paid to the act of suicide itself. Suicide is defined, both in Islamic law and in common English usage, as "the intentional taking of one's own life." Which begs the question: can one really choose to be a martyr?
Most certainly, there have been martyrs in Islamic history who have known with some certainty that they would die in defense of their beliefs or their families. Outnumbered and betrayed on the plains of Karbala, Imam Husayn may very well have anticipated his own death. The same is true of Sumaya, the first Muslim martyr, whose story bears some resemblance to the Christian St. Perpetua. But though in all likelihood both figures realized that they would die violently, and willingly entered into the events that led to their deaths, neither can be said to have chosen to end his or her life. What they chose to do was to proclaim their faith in the face of persecution, in the case of Sumaya [who is the ultimate historical antidote to taqiyya]; or defend their families against overwhelming odds, in the case of Imam Husayn. Neither chose death; they chose to do what they thought was right even in the face of death. The distinction is small but vitally important. Take, on the other hand, your average suicide bomber, who causes the events that lead to his death. He does not act defensively, but aggressively, not only against others but against himself. He proclaims nothing and protects no one. He chooses to die in every sense of the phrase. He does not place himself in the way of unavoidable harm, as does a soldier or a political dissenter. He produces the very danger in which he places himself. The only difference between this and a traditional suicide is the destructive power of the weapon involved; if he were to turn a gun on himself, killing only himself, no one would call him a 'martyr'. Logically, then, one cannot choose to be a martyr. For a suicide bomber to compare himself to a soldier or a Socrates is a laughable insult to the memory of those who have died so that others could live; those who have died so that others would have the freedom to speak and to worship as they chose. A suicide bomber who kills 100 people is guilty of 101 murders; he must number himself among his own victims. Martyrdom could not be further from such a crime.
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Tags: Islam, Law, Martyrdom, Suicide (all tags) Can You Choose To Be A Martyr? | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden) Can You Choose To Be A Martyr? | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)
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