Martyrdom (Arab. shahdda, “witnessing [for God]”), especially martyrdom on the battlefield and its religious merits, was an important theme of Muslim propaganda during the counter-crusade against the Franks of Outremer.
The Qur’an promises great recompense for those who are slain “in the way of God” (Arab. ft sabil Alldh): the forgiveness of sins, exemption from the torments of the grave, great bliss in Paradise, and the right to act as intercessors for less fortunate believers {sura 3:169-170, 4:67-69, 9:111). On earth, the bodies of martyrs receive special burial rites: they are interred in their bloodstained garments without washing or shrouding. Prophetic tradition (Arab. Hadith) claims even greater prizes for the active quest for martyrdom (Arab. talab al-shahdda) in heroic, singlehanded feats of war (distinguishing those from suicide, which is considered a major sin). Later jurists extended the notion of martyrdom and its rewards to include victims of plague, fire, childbirth, and other forms of painful deaths.
Muslim authors and preachers who wished to instigate and perpetuate thejihdd (holy war) against the Franks used and glorified the examples of the martyrs of the early campaigns of Muhammad in Arabia, of the great Arab conquests, and of the prolonged war of attrition with Byzan-
Mateusz of Krakow (d. 1166)
Tium, as well as the willing sacrifice of the mothers and fathers of martyrs. Martyrs of the counter-crusade itself received similar attention. Chroniclers report that stories about those men aroused strong emotions and motivated citizens and soldiers. Moreover, graves of warriors who had sought and achieved martyrdom while combating the Franks (such as those of two elderly scholars who insisted upon fighting the army of the Second Crusade on the outskirts of Damascus in 1148, and the communal grave of the victims of the bloody conquest of Jerusalem in 1099) became sites for pilgrimage and prayer.
-Daniella Talmon-Heller
Bibliography
Ezzati, A., “The Concept of Martyrdom in Islam,” Al-Serat 12 (1986), 117-123.
Kohlberg, Etan, “Medieval Muslim Views on Martyrdom,” Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Mededelingen: AfdelingLetterkunde 60 (1997), 281-307.
Raven, Wim, “Martyrs,” Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an, 4 vols., ed. J. D. McAuliffe (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 3:281-287.
Talmon-Heller, Daniella, “Muslim Martyrdom and Quest for Martyrdom in the Crusading Period,” Al-Masdq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean 14 (2002), 131-139.
World History
