ABSTRACT
In order to define what is meant by martyrdom it is necessary to compare the Christian concept(s) with the Islamic ones. St Thomas Aquinas, a controversial writer in his time, and, as a Dominican friar, one who owed much to Muslim thinkers, gives attention to this matter in his Summa Theologiae. Aquinas considers martyrdom as an act of virtue:1
According to him, the true martyr holds cheap all the things of this world; consequently, martyrdom normally implies losing oneʼs life, thus showing complete victory over worldly things:
He considers that any human good directed to God may be the cause of martyrdom:
I have not been able to find any mention of ʻ seeking martyrdom ʼin the Summa Theologiae but, according to St Gregory of Nazianzus, the true martyr does not seek martyrdom but is called to it:
Christians are aware of the words of Christ:
and these words from the Epistle to the Romans:
In the light of these scriptures, a modern Christian Palestinian organization gives this statement about martyrdom:
However, according to St Thomas, even members of those orders established for military action could become martyrs:
The Muslim Shahīd
The Qurʼan consists of 114 sections (Suras), some much longer than others. All Muslims believe that it represents the words of God as received via the Angel Gabriel and delivered by the Prophet Muhammad to his people between 610 and 632 CE. It is the first and most important text on which Muslims base their understanding of life, themselves and the world around them, and which is the foundation and touchstone of Islamic law (shariʼah). In addition to the Qurʼan there is a large body of literature, known as Hadith, which consists of reports of the sayings and actions of the Prophet
Muhammad as written down by his followers, and transmitted faithfully, orally and in writing, to several generations after him. The main collections extant today date from the third Islamic century, and there exists a vast body of scholarship designed to sift, authenticate and dismiss individual hadiths and classes of hadiths. The hadith texts form the secondary source of shariʼah law, including moral guidance. I shall base my discussion of the Islamic teachings about martyrdom on these two sources, as do all those who argue for and against current understandings of the term.
