Does martyrdom eliminate major sins as atonement?

- If a person does not obey his parents, does not perform five daily prayers and does some other bad things, are his sins eliminated when he becomes a martyr
- I am asking this question because I have heard that martyrdom eliminates the sins related to the orders of Allah. How is the issue mentioned in the Quran and hadiths?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Yes, the sins of martyrs are forgiven and they enter Paradise. For, sins or being a sinner does not prevent being a martyr.

Shahid (martyr) in Arabic lexically means “to witness an incident, to act and speak as a witness, to be present somewhere”; it is derived from the root (shuhud).

As a religious term, shahid (plural form shuhada) means a Muslim killed in the way of Allah.

The scholars who explain the connection between the lexical and terminological meaning of the word based on the meaning “seen, witnessed” (mashhud) say he is called shahid because a person who sacrifices his life in the way of Allah attains the boons of Paradise at once;

the scholars who explain it based on the meaning “who sees, witnesses” because his martyrdom is witnessed by Allah and angels say he is called shahid because he finds the boons that Allah has promised ready and makes use of them or because he will be asked to witness with the Prophet (pbuh) on the Day of Judgment about the previous ummahs.

The word shahid is mentioned fifty-six times in the Quran; once as a dual word and twenty times as a plural word. (M. F. Abdulbaqi, al-Mujam, “shhd” item)

Most of them are used in the sense of “witness”, in some verses as one of the names of asma al-husna and in other verses as “a mature person who lives in accordance with Allah’s will, an exemplary person, a leader”. (for instance, see al-Baqara 2/143; al-Hajj 22/78)

The word shuhada (plural form) is used in order to express the people who attain the rank of martyrdom by sacrificing their lives in the way of Allah in three verses (an-Nisa 4/69; az-Zumar 39/69; al-Hadid 57/19) but shahid (singular) form is not used in this sense.

However, Biqai holds the view that the word shahid in verse 72 of the chapter of an-Nisa can be interpreted to be in the sense of martyr. (Nazmud-Durar, V, 325)

The word shahid is often used in the sense of martyr in hadiths. (Wensinck, al-Mujam, “shhd” item)

In many verses, the importance of martyrdom and its value in the eye of Allah is emphasized:

- “And say not of those who are slain in the way of Allah: ‘They are dead.’ Nay, they are living, though ye perceive (it) not.” (al-Baqara 2/154);

- “Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay they live finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord.” (Aal-i Imran 3/169);

- “But those who are slain in the way of Allah he will never let their deeds be lost. (…)And admit them to the Garden which He has announced for them.” (Muhammad 47/4-6) The issue of martyrdom are emphasized in the verses above. In some verses, it is stated that their rank is after prophets and siddiqs (veracious, loyal people) in the eye of Allah. (an-Nisa 4/ 69)

Fakhruddin ar-Razi attracts attention to the hadiths defining those who are drowned in water and who die due to various reasons like diseases and states that it will not be right to limit the word shuhada in this verse with the meaning of those sacrificing their lives with the aim of helping the religion of Allah and that the scholars who support justice by making efforts in order to elevate the name of Allah (Aal-i Imran 3/18) should be included in this context. (Mafatihul-Ghayb, V, 277)

The statements of Hz. Prophet (pbuh) about martyrdom are generally compiled in the chapters of Jihad in hadiths collections.

It is stated in these hadiths

- that only those who sacrifice their lives in order to elevate the religion of Allah, not those who have a worldly purpose, (Bukhari, “Jihad”, 15; Muslim, “Imarah”, 149-152; Nasai, “Jihad”, 21; Ibn Majah, “Jihad”, 13),

- that a martyr dies without suffering, that all of his sins except violation of others’ rights are forgiven as soon as his first blood drops on the ground, that he will not suffer torture in the grave and that he will see his rank in Paradise (Tirmidhi, “Fadailul-Jihad”, 25, 26),

- that he could intercede for seventy people among his relatives (Tirmidhi, “Fadailul-Jihad”, 25)

- that he will be among those who enter Paradise first (Muslim, “Imarah”, 143; Abu Dawud, “Jihad”, 27),

- and that among those who die by attaining a good rank in the eye of Allah, only  martyrs will want to return to the world and want to elevate the religion of Allah until they are martyred again. (Bukhari, “Jihad”, 6, 21; Muslim, “Imarah”, 109)

On the other hand, it is stated in some hadiths that there are also some people who will be regarded as martyrs apart from those who die in the way of Allah; for instance, 

- those who die for the sake of their lives, wealth and honor (Abu Dawud, “Sunnah”, 29; Tirmidhi, “Diyat”, 21)

- or those who die due to infectious diseases like plague and cholera (Bukhari, “Jihad”, 30; Muslim, “Imarah”, 164-165),

- those who want to die as martyrs but die in bed (Muslim, “Imarah”, 157) will be given the reward of martyrdom, and that there are other deeds that are equal to the thawab of martyrdom (Bukhari, “Jihad”, 1; Muslim, “Imarah”, 110, 125; Nasai, “Jihad”, 17; Ibn Majah, “Fitan”, 13).

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