The closest word in English for Shahīd
is “martyr.” But they are not exactly
the same. According to four different
dictionaries, martyr as a noun is defined as:
1. a person
who willingly suffers death rather than renounce his or her religion.
2. a person
who is put to death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief,
principle, or cause: a martyr to the cause of social justice.
3. a person
who undergoes severe or constant suffering: a martyr to severe headaches.
4. a person
who seeks sympathy or attention by feigning or exaggerating pain, deprivation,
etc.
Whereas Shahīd has two meanings:
First, witness or testifier, either “by vision” (in
absence), or “by presence.”
Second, a person who is killed specifically in the way,
or for the cause, of
All
ā
h
(j.j.), or His Divine
d
ī
n
.
The word Shahīd in its
first meaning is a Qur’ānic term having entered in the Book 35 times. More significantly, however, it is one of the
“Most Beautiful Names (
الاسماء
الحسنی
)” of
All
ā
h
with the meaning of The Supreme Witness of all beings,
in all places, in all worlds
.
In fact, anyone who is
slain in the way, or for the cause, of
All
ā
h
(j.j.), will automatically be a
witness of secret realities, by his spiritual eye (Ba
ṣī
rah
بصيرة
)
.
Therefore, both meanings are somehow
interwoven. In the following
āyah,
Allāh
(j.j.) clarifies
that those who are killed in the way of
All
ā
h
are not considered as dead. They are happily being provided in the “Presence
” of their Rabb.
وَ لا تَحْسَبَنَّ
الَّذينَ قُتِلُوا في سَبيلِ اللَّهِ أَمْواتاً بَلْ أَحْياءٌ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ
يُرْزَقُونَ.
Do not consider those who are slain in
the way of
All
ā
h
to be dead. Nay! They
are alive, and receive their Sustenance in the Presence of their Lord.
Sūrah Āl i-ʿImrān (3), Āyah 169
وَ لا تَقُولُواْ لِمَن يُقْتَلُ فىِ
سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَمْوَاتُ بَلْ أَحْيَاءٌ وَ لاكِن لا تَشْعُرُونَ.
And do not call
those who were slain in Allah’s way “dead”.
Nay! They are living, but you do
not perceive.
Sūrah Baqarah (2),
Āyah
154.
The plural form of Shahīd is Shuhadā’
for either of its two meanings.
This definition clearly shows that a martyr, if suffered
or killed for his earthly religion, or personal, tribal, racial, national, and
ethnical causes or beliefs, which may be against the wish of
All
ā
h
(j.j.) and His Unique d
ī
n,
then, his martyrdom is far away
from
Shihādah
(the act
of becoming
Shahīd
)
.
He is even punished in the
next world for fighting against the d
ī
n
of
All
ā
h
(j.j.).