Question: I have read quite a few
Ah@a#di#th
in which the Prophet (sws) has said:
Martyrs are those who die because of drowning, falling
prey to plague, succumbing to an abdominal disease, or being buried alive
under a falling building.
In another H~adi#th,
the Prophet(saw) is reported to have said:
Whoever is killed while protecting his property is a
martyr.
I am a bit confused on this issue. All
these forms of death are so different from each other, yet the common thing
is the ending: the martyrdom. Does this mean that even if a person does
not have much to his credit, he would still go to heaven if he died one
of the above deaths?.
Answer: If all the texts of the H~adi#th
you have quoted first are collected and analyzed, it becomes evident
that in most texts of this H~adi#th
a clause is missing which is making them quite ambiguous. The clause
is Fi#Sabi#lilla#h
(In the way of Allah). In other words, these Ah~a#di#th
just say that a person who died in the cause of Islam and was not martyred
in the battlefield for this very cause is a martyr also. This of course
is quite comprehensible.
The following text of these Ah@a#di#th
is the basic one in this regard, and it can be seen from it that the
words "In the way of Allah" are mentioned after each type of accidental
death. In most other texts, this clause has been omitted by the narrators
rendering them beyond comprehension. Abu#
Hurayrah reports:
I heard the Prophet asking: Whom do you count as a martyr.
[Those around him] replied: a person who fights in the way of Allah until
he is killed. At this the Prophet said: Then the there will be very few
martyrs in my Ummah; [listen] a person who is killed [in the battle field]
while fighting in the way of Allah is a martyr, a person who is infected
with plague and dies in the way of Allah is a martyr, a person who drowns
in the way of Allah is a martyr, a person who falls down from the animal
[he is riding] and dies in the way of Allah is a martyr, a person who is
inflicted with pneumonia and dies in the way of Allah is a martyr. (Musnad
Ahmad Bin Hanbal, Vol 2, p. 441)
Besides the above mentioned ambiguity,
it should also be kept in mind that in all such Ah@a#di#th
are omitted certain other details as well which must be taken into account;
firstly, the person in question here is not the one who leads a life of
sin; he is a pious and practicing Muslim. Other Ah@a#di#th
mention this qualification and which of course is based on the Qur’a#n
itself. Secondly, dying in the way of Allah should be his strong desire.
This is based on the Qur’a#nic
precept that all of a person’s deeds are based on his intentions, and unless
a person has an intention of doing some good deed an accidental happening
in this regard will earn him no reward.
The H~adi#th
that says that a person who is killed while protecting his property
is a martyr implies that a person who has laid down his life against oppression
is a martyr. It is known that according to the Qur’a#n
(4:75), Jiha#d can only
be launched against oppression and tyranny. A person who is killed in defending
his wealth and property actually fights against the worst form of oppression
and persecution, and therefore his death is certainly the death of a martyr.
Again it is implied that the person in question is a practicing Muslim
who is desirous of laying down his life for the cause of Islam.
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