Aaminah Y.

Last year, a friend of mine in Jerusalem told me that he felt a tension lingering in the air, a sense of impending doom as Ramadan was approaching. Like clockwork, the Israeli occupying forces launched their attacks on worshippers in Al Aqsa Mosque, with reports of increased aggression throughout the region. And right on cue, a deafening silence from world leaders who not too long ago were rallying fiercely for Ukraine. The realisation that between the Muslim states edging towards normalisation with occupying powers, and those engulfed by political instability at home, there is no one now to speak out against these violations. Who will defend the honour of these people whilst the world paints them as aggressors? 

As the world sits back and watches the suffering of those in warzones and concentration camps, as we witness another genocide that was to ‘never again’ take place, the helplessness and empty promises of justice and equality are remedied by remembering Allah’s infinite power. It is He who settles affairs. There is solace in Allahs promise that He will not forget His people, and that their reward is martyrdom. 

Make martyrdom sacred again

Muslims in the public sphere have spent many an effort in denouncing extremism and painting a picture of the ‘moderate Muslim’, with condemnations repeated ad nauseam. As part of this argumentation, religious concepts that transcend the dynamics of the dunya and exist beyond the borders of the West, have been divorced from the varying sociopolitical and theological contexts in which they have always found relevance. Instead, they have been assigned a fixed narrative limited to the happenings of the past two decades. One such example is that of martyrdom, a promise between the Almighty and His creation.

In Islam, the shaheed is he who bears witness – even unto death – demonstrating the ultimate sincerity of his life by laying it down for what he believes. It is foregoing one’s love for the dunya and wholly embracing the divine. T.S. Eliot puts it best: 

“The martyr is he who has become the instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God. Not lost it, but found it, for he has found freedom in the submission of God. The martyr no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of Martyrdom.”

Martyrdom holds a special status in all three Abrahamic faiths. Yet a concept that has existed throughout history epitomising righteousness and honour, has undergone an extreme bastardisation via perverted understandings of justice and a mainstream preoccupied with it being synonymous with suicide attacks. Additionally, an increasingly secularised society has come to dictate what is considered a noble death.

The claims of martyrdom from those who murder mercilessly and contravene Islamic teachings bear no resemblance to the sacrifices of the steadfast. However, with so much focus on denouncing what martyrdom is and isn’t, we have lost the ability to honour what it is. 

The making of a villain

For the last two decades, Muslims all over the world have been tied to the actions of a small minority and tainted by the original sin of 9/11, forcing the Western world to initiate its baptism through the War on Terror. Despite waging never-ending wars that have levelled entire cities and wrought a death toll in the millions, those responsible for inflicting this carnage are hailed as heroes and commemorated for their sacrifices. Their intentions are presented as noble and their cause, worthy. The same voices that condemned the savagery of Islamists and Jihadis now cheer on the West’s crusade against terrorism, for it is a ‘just’ violence, a fulfilment of a moral duty in protecting their land, its people and its values. This however, is not a right afforded to all.

Achilles had the option to return home from the Trojan war to live a long life of obscurity; however he chose the life of a warrior, cut short but with the promise of infinite glory and fame. Islamic martyrdom is often portrayed in the mainstream as a Muslim’s get rich quick card, a cheat code in gaining honour, and a fast track into heaven. It is reduced to a self-centred peasantly lust for status and glory rather than one of struggle, selflessness and sacrifice. Ultimately for Achilles, his choice was not rooted in his stoicism or his yearning for a noble death, rather his grief and hunger for retribution. 

‘Seeking martyrdom’ is generally understood as orchestrating situations that allow one to choose violence and obtain a noble death, rather than sociopolitical factors that force individuals to bear violent situations. In most cases, the shaheed cannot escape the tumultuous affair, but will bear witness even unto death for the haqq. The ideal is less about dying, rather, it is a call to struggle. This is a struggle against injustice and idolatry, a struggle against one’s own nafs and a test of faith in the Most High during the harshest of trials. Whilst Allah will honour the martyrs and reward them a high status, it does not negate the fact that their death is a tragedy. A parochial focus on groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda ignores the fact that this concept is predominantly applied to the struggle of innocent civilians in response to occupation, oppression and tyranny. To brush every act of armed resistance with the lazy ISIS narrative denies agency to those who have no other means to defend themselves. Additionally the refusal to interrogate the root of the violence and a removal of the bigger picture, makes it appear as if the aggression is unprompted and one sided. 

They blame Palestinian textbooks, which are purportedly full of hate and intolerance, to justify the persecution of Palestinian children in military courts; but overlook the brutal Israeli bombardment of schools and villages, preventing Palestinian children from getting an education by incapacitating and disabling them. As Palestinians spend their childhoods in solitary confinement for ‘violent tendencies’, Israeli youth are groomed into worshipping the IDF, preparing them for military conscription at 18.

Palestinian school girls run crying after Israeli occupation forces fired teargas canisters towards at least 8 kindergartens and @UNRWA schools in the southern area of occupied Hebron, in the West Bank earlier today. pic.twitter.com/BV3vtYr8h9

— Maha Hussaini (@MahaGaza) September 14, 2021

The growing Kashmiri insurgency against the Indian state is attributed to the militant nature ingrained in Muslim youth, who choose guns over pens. But Burhan Wani, an educated teen from a middle class family took up arms not because it was a rite of passage for Muslim men, but rather due to the constant hostility he faced as a Muslim in Indian occupied Kashmir. The goalkeeper for Syria’s Youth Team, Abdel Basset Sarout, was known as the ‘Singer of the Revolution’ as he sang for the freedom of his people and his land in country-wide peaceful protests. But the brutal torture and mass slaughter of his country folk forced him to switch his gloves for guns to protect his loved ones.

It is apparently the madrassas indoctrinating illiterate boys with the promise of 72 virgins and eternal glory if they take up arms. Yet there is little concern for American children who are made to stand for the pledge of allegiance daily and fed military propaganda through the latest Marvel film, before eventually enlisting to fight in countries they most probably could not point to on a map.  

Palestinian children sing about martyrdom not because they are taught to love death, but because they know, in a way many of us don’t, that they will die. Their parents no longer pacify them with fictitious dreams and hopes of a future that may never come. Instead they are reassured with a more beautiful truth about their reality, that they are walking martyrs who have an eternity in Paradise to look forward to.

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‘I choose life!’ is easy when one’s home has not been bombed into rubble, burying under it an entire family whose bodies cannot be retrieved. You cannot choose life when carrying the dismembered remains of your loved ones in plastic bags. You are not given the choice of life  when electricity supplies to hospitals are cut leaving babies in incubators to die. 

Political identification is a privilege reserved only for some; others are written into a narrative that is assigned to them rather than something they make for themselves. Our Hadith corpus outlines the martyrs as both men and women, soldier and civilian – the only condition is that they are believers and righteous. Yet the context is almost always reduced to the modern phenomenon of suicide bombings. The rewards of a martyr are many, yet the fixation on carnal desire whenever the topic of martyrdom arises is an attempt to drive home the primitive and animalistic archetype of the Muslim man, to undermine his motive and sincerity. The War on Terror has cemented the image of the irrational, unrefined Muslims with violence woven into their psyche, to show they are a people who cannot be reasoned with.   

This rhetoric is further adopted by non-Western states and ‘Muslim’ nations who aim to neutralise and limit the hold of Islam in society. ‘A graveyard of clerics and a prison for preachers’ – such is Saudi Arabia’s reputation for stamping out dissent, where many a scholar who stayed firm on the truth has paid for it with their life, whilst others await their death sentences rotting away in jail. Repackaging it as a campaign against extremism, Saudi portrays its violence as a necessary evil for the greater good. Likewise, political repression has become a hallmark of the Egyptian regime within the last few decades. Working within the counter terrorism framework, it is responsible for the mass incarceration, torture and extra-judicial killings of scholars, activists and peaceful protestors who oppose the state and take a stand against tyranny. 

A God for the godless

It is God who has made a promise to his people, that if they submit to Him and remain steadfast, He will honour their deaths and compensate them in the akhirah. It was this promise that Summayyah, the first martyr of Islam, took heed of when enduring the brutal torture of Abu Jahl.  She did not give up her religion because of her conviction in the words of Muhammed ﷺ, who told her and her kinfolk “Be patient, O family of Yasir. You have a place in Jannah.”

It is no wonder then that a people who have been brutalised and besieged for the last seventy years are able to remain strong. You cannot bomb the belief of Allah out of them. The secular uses death tolls to emphasise a victim narrative because it cannot comprehend anything beyond. But shahadat refers to a continuity – for both the martyr, into the next life and the community, in their struggle. With every death, the people are invigorated rather than deterred. With every death, hundreds more pledge allegiance to the cause. The funerals of martyrs are celebrations, because these deaths come with a knowledge that the soul is in Allah’s protection now. The martyrs funeral is full of thousands praying that they too be granted shahadat. 

It is unnerving for the oppressor, that despite their best and continued efforts, they have created a people who are not afraid of death, a people who will not relent till the last day; a force they cannot win against. 

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Secularism seeks not so much to exile religion from the public domain, rather to reconfigure it; clipping its wings and mutilating the core so it can be used to serve the same godless project, whilst disguised in a shroud of religious vernacular. The semiotics of martyrdom are appropriated within the profane arena to attach a type of honour to death that only a higher power can. A society that has largely disregarded the dead requires an external force to transcend corporeal remains to a sacred state. A linguistic shift in reframing martyrdom as self-sacrifice and altruistic suicide is an acknowledgement that God Almighty is no longer in the picture, but the role of a sovereign remains in the gods we create on earth, from the self to the -ism’s to the modern nation state.

The martyr figure proves useful; for a dead body is akin to an empty canvas. It can be adorned in propaganda and woven into desired narratives to take on a new meaning, thence used to prop up policies, movements and entire institutions. By removing the transcendental dimension, the modern nation state aims to usurp martyrdom into its realm, and grant itself sacral legitimacy. It mimics traditional religion in its efforts to commemorate the dead, however they are seldom remembered in prayers, rather in propaganda, parades and posters. By incorporating it into statist ritual, the nation state is seen as the benevolent sovereign who wields the power of bringing meaning to death. This act of sanctification is recognised on a communal level, consequently propelling the state further towards divine status. The transformation of an individual death into a communal cause is a useful device, hence why dying for one’s creed warrants condemnation, but to do so for one’s country is celebrated.

Moreover, between the culture wars and identity politics, individuals are tried in the court of public opinion which often eulogises the most heinous of individuals. From amongst the hundreds of drone strikes authorised by Obama during his presidency, one of the first targeted a funeral, murdering as many as 41 Pakistani civilians. Yet he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize and is oft-celebrated for being the first Black president of America, despite following the same murderous playbook as those before him. Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian military official responsible for the siege, starvation and slaughter of the Syrian people is hailed as a martyr by the Iranian regime and a hero by anti-imperialists for his resistance against the US. Presenting him as a messianic figure, religion is used as a tool to justify his crimes and legitimise Iran’s nationalistic goals. His funeral through the streets of Karbala was symbolic and tactical, drawing upon the martyrdom of Imam Hussayn (RA) through slogans like ‘Everyday is Ashura’. Ironically, someone with the blood of thousands of innocents on his hands, emulating more the tyrant that called for Hussayn’s death, is able to find a place in the narrative that links his struggle with that of the noble Imam, who died bearing witness to the truth and justice. 

It is good then that it is not man who maketh martyr. In the words of T.S. Elliot, “martyrdom is always the design of God […] never the design of man”. Only God can compensate those who have trusted him wholly when all others have failed them. When worldly justice can offer little more than a hashtag, Allah removes them from the hellish dunya to reside in the heavens where no misfortune can ever reach them again. He grants them the dignity they were denied on earth and elevates them to such a status that it is said:

“No soul that has a good standing with Allah and dies would wish to go back to the life of this world, except for the martyr. He would like to be returned to this life so that he could be martyred again, for he tastes the honour achieved from martyrdom.” 

Sahih Bukhari 2795

Summayah died before the glory days of Islam, but the cause continued after her death. She lived a difficult life but in death her hardships were undercut by the Prophet’s affirmation. With God, the martyr’s sacrifice allows both he and his community access to a higher truth. The martyr is rewarded, and his loved ones reassured that there is something better for them beyond the burdens of this life. However when sacrifice is confined to the limits of the worldly sovereign, there is the sobering realisation that they quite simply can not compensate the martyr. It is beyond their capabilities, and far too often outside their interests. No medal nor memorial can take the place of justice, and there is no true justice without Allah who is al Adl, the Most Just.

Do not forgive, do not forget

يَوْمَ يَبْعَثُهُمُ ٱللَّهُ جَمِيعًا فَيُنَبِّئُهُم بِمَا عَمِلُوٓا۟ ۚ أَحْصَىٰهُ ٱللَّهُ وَنَسُوهُ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ شَهِيدٌ

On the Day Allah resurrects them all together, He will then inform them of what they have done. Allah has kept account of it all, while they have forgotten it. For Allah is a Witness over all things.

For the millions in Afghanistan who died in obscurity whilst resisting American and Soviet occupation, rest assured Allah knows who you are. For those who are forced to fight for their liberation, from the martyrs of the Algerian Revolution to the ongoing Kashmiri resistance, it is in firdaus you will taste true freedom. All those who drown at sea because imaginary borders dictate your humanity, the fields of Jannah will be never ending. Those who burn in fires that are the result of neglect and austerity, it is in the coolness of Paradise that you will find sanctuary. Mothers who die in childbirth and those who perish due to plague, Allah is a witness to your isolated struggle and He will compensate you in full. 

For all those whose very existence as Muslims is an act of resistance, your Lord will never forget you. The Bosnians whose muslimness made them the target of genocide, and the Muslims of India who are lynched by Hindu extremists purely because they testify that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad ﷺ  is his final messenger – it is this submission to Allah that will elevate you from a life of degradation to one of dignity.

“The master of martyrs on the Day of Resurrection is Hamzah ibn ‘Abdil Muttalib and a man who stands up to a tyrannical authority, commanding good and forbidding evil and he is killed for it.

Al-Mu’jam al-Awsaṭ lil-Tabarani 4079

From Raba’a to Damascus, Khartoum to Kashmir,  the modern day pharaohs will too be swept away by the sea of divine justice, in which Allah has created a path to Jannah for those who dare speak truth to a tyrant. 

All the innocent children we failed to protect are now in the custody of Ibrahim, upon him be peace, playing in the gardens of Jannah till the day of Qiyamah. The image of Muhammad al Durrah gunned down in his fathers lap, the mutilated body of Hamzah Khateeb, the lifeless corpse of Aylan Kurdi should be etched into our imaginations and haunt us, for it is these faces that will take us to account on the Day of Judgement if we refuse to stand on the side of justice. 

Too often we reduce these people to victims without acknowledging them as martyrs, a right afforded to them by Allah. But it takes courage to throw rocks at tanks whilst bombs fall from the sky.  It takes courage to speak out against a tyrant who mercilessly shoots at his own people. It takes courage to put your trust solely in Allah as you are smuggled across the French channel with little more than a life jacket.

Not every death is spectacular, nor is martyrdom always an endeavour cloaked in heroics and grandeur. But every death is special, because Allah chose them. These deaths, as brutal, insignificant and undignified as they may appear; are connected to a divine command. It is not the end for them:

‘Nay, they are alive in the presence of their Lord, but we perceive it not.’

Al Qur’an 2:154

 It is with this truth that all those who resist continue in their struggle. And by the will of Allah, it is with this truth that we will unite in our response. For how long can we abandon a people chosen by Allah? How can we neglect a struggle for which so much has been sacrificed? We must ensure we dignify the deceased through the action we take. The same hands that make dua for the shuhadah cannot embrace those that called for their death. 

“It is very difficult to write your will, and for years, I have looked at all the wills written by martyrs and was confused by them. They were brief and disappointing, lacking eloquence, and did not satisfy our search for the answers for their martyrdom. Now I am walking towards my fate with contentment and conviction and I have found my answers. How foolish I am! Is there anything more eloquent and expressive than the act of martyrdom? I should have written this many months ago, but what stopped me from doing this is that this question is for you, the living. Why should I answer it for you? You must look for it yourself. As for us in the graves, we are only looking for the mercy of Allah.”

Basel al-Araj, Palestinian intellectual, resistance fighter, Martyr.