Martyrdom in Light of the Arab Spring

Martyrdom and Terrorism, 2014

Behemoth: https://ojs.ub.uni-freiburg.de/behemoth/issue/view/87 , 2019

As will be discussed in this issue on interdisciplinary perspectives on martyrdom in the modern Middle East, the discourses on the martyr have been shaped and rearranged in the Turkish civil war of the 1970s, the Palestinian struggle, the Islamic Revolution in Iran of 1978/79 and the subsequent Iran-Iraq war (1980–1988) as well as in more recent episodes during and after the Arab spring, in the Syrian war or in Pakistan. In nearly all of these episodes, martyrdom not only represented a powerful discursive concept, but it has had profound effects on the respective conflict itself due to the fact that people actually chose death in order to articulate their beliefs. The many viewpoints that inform the contributions in this issue on martyrdom in the modern Middle East illustrate that there is no fixed and immutable concept of martyrdom in the Islamic context. Rather, ideas on martyrdom can always be rearranged or formulated innovatively. They may refer to personal or collective experiences made by the respective social groups (as is predominant in secularist notions of martyrdom) or to an established prefiguration taken from the group’s belief system by making use of its founding myth, as has been done repeatedly, but also dynamically, in the Shi'ite context. However, the concept of martyrdom has not only proven to be a powerful, if not always successful, tool in the struggle for political power and ideological hegemony, it has also been contested continuously. Throughout history, there have been arguments about the essence of the concept reflecting the dynamics of power that shaped the specific place and time.

This book chapter examines the use of the trope, or master symbol, of Imam Husayn (Hossein) and his martyrdom in modern Iranian politics, pointing out that the popular appeal of the commemoration of Husayn's martyrdom derives in part from its power to embody many elements that are characteristic of core themes in Iranian life. In the post -revolution period the trope of martyrdom evolved as a definitive proof of the legitimacy of the regime.

and Keywords In both popular and scholarly literature, jihad is primarily assumed to be a monovalent concept referring to " military/armed combat, " and martyrdom (shahada) is inevitably understood to be of the military kind. This assumption facilitates the discussion of jihad and martyrdom as terms with fixed, universal meanings divorced from the varying sociopolitical contexts in which they have been deployed through time. Such a monovalent understanding of these two concepts emerges primarily through consultation of the juridical literature and official histories that were produced after the 2nd century CE (8th century AH) and that are unduly privileged in academic discussions of this subject. In contradistinction to this approach, a more holistic and historical approach to the term jihad can be undertaken by focusing on the changing significations of jihad from the earliest formative period of Islam to the contemporary period, against the backdrop of specific social and political circumstances which have mediated the meanings of this critical term. This larger objective entails canvassing a more varied genre of texts to recreate a more multifaceted understanding of jihad and martyrdom as dynamic discursive terms through time. Such sources include Qurʾan exegetical works (tafsir), early and late works of hadith which purport to contain the sayings of the prophet Muhammad, the excellences of jihad (fadaʾil al-jihad) and the excellences of patience (fadaʾil al-sabr) literatures, which are often not consulted on this topic. Furthermore, the comparison of early and late sources and texts from these genres allows one to chart both the constancies and changes in the spectrum of meanings and repertoire of activities included under the terms jihad and shahada. This recovery of a broader semantic landscape undermines exclusively martial conceptualizations of both these terms and has important implications for the contemporary period.

Behemoth, 2019

Martyrdom is for losers. Yet, it is a powerful claim on strength at the same time. For the individual who seeks martyrdom, it is the weapon of last resort and a means of self-defence. For the surviving community that remembers someone as a martyr, it indicates the unjust suffering of an innocent. On one hand, the recourse to martyrdom discourses exposes the self-perceived weakness of those who make use of it. On the other, dying on behalf of a higher cause is a strong signal and a rallying cry for the bereaved. Thus, the concept of martyrdom unites both references to strength and impotence and it is packed with ambiguities.

The theme of martyrdom appears almost innate in Islām: a militant missiology and institutionalization. Since its origins, the so-called ǧihād, also translated as "holy war", suggest that the immolation on the "way of God" in order to obtain the victory of the true and just religion is a more than pregnant factor in Islamic theology, if not one of the pillars of the defense and propagation of the faith itself, especially in light of the current fundamentalist reading of the texts. In this chapter, we will show how the question turns out to be much more complex than recent events in the news and how geopolitical studies present it. Initially we will consider the pre-Islamic era and the Christian presence in the Arabian Peninsula to highlight if there are elements of continuity or discontinuity between Christian and Islamic martyrology. Later, the linguistic aspects related to the Arabic translation of the term "martyr" will be considered. We will then analyze how the sources, Qur'an and ḥadīṯ, present martyrdom and the types and characteristics of martyrs. The study will focus exclusively on martyrdom from the point of view of Sunni Islām.

This paper examines the use of martyrdom ideology and doctrine to support violent action by various militant groups in the Islamic world, including Iraq.

The cult of military martyrdom publicly proclaimed and enthusiastically embraced by modern militant groups in Muslim-majority societies in the name of religion conveys the impression that foundational texts in Islam themselves must exhort followers to such acts. If one read only militant literature with its references to the Qur’an and hadith works, one might be convinced that this were true. A deeper, historical survey of early texts however easily disabuses us of such notions. This chapter illustrates how the concept of martyrdom and its purview remained a contested one through most of the formative period of Islam. Early views from the first and second centuries of Islam in fact were often dramatically different from those that developed in the later period. A diachronic comparison of such varying perspectives allows us to trace a shifting trajectory of meanings associated with martyrdom that has important consequences for the contemporary period