Martyr
Historically, a
martyr is a person who dies for his or her
religious faith.
During the early Roman Empire, the independent cities of Asia Minor made efforts to reward benefactors for their services, and to incite further civic generosity by means of public acclamations, eulogistic honorific decrees addressed to the Roman authorities and read out in the public places before an audience. Such commendations are usually referred to in epigraphic sources as
martyriai. Christians adopted the phrase for the "testimonies" of the acts and sufferings of the persecuted, who became "martyrs."
History
In Christianity
Christian martyrs in the first three centuries A.D. were
crucified in the same manner as
Roman political prisoners or eaten by lions as a circus spectacle. They are recognized as martyrs because they have preferred to die rather than renounce their
Christian faith, usually by making a sacrifice to a pagan deity.
With the
Constantinian shift and the identification of Christianity with the
Roman Empire, the tables were turned and
pagans sometimes became martyrs if they refused conversion to Christianity. It didn't take long before
Augustine of Hippo authorized the use of force against
heretics or fellow Christians who refused to fall in line with
orthodoxy. Intra-Christian
persecution and the martyrdom that sometimes went with it became institutionalised in the office of the
inquisition of the
Roman Catholic Church.
Some Christian sects such as
Anabaptists and
Mormons trace their origins to widespread persecution and martyrdom at the hands of mainstream Christians trying to suppress their break away sects. The Anabaptists have embraced this part of their heritage to such an extent that the book
Martyrs Mirror, which describes the deaths of Anabaptist Martyrs in the
16th and
17th century is still widely owned and read in
Mennonite and
Amish households (see Anabaptist persecution for more).
In Islam
In Arabic, a martyr is termed "shahid" (literally, "witness"). The concept of the
shahid is discussed in the
Hadith, the sayings of
Muhammad; the term recurs frequently in the Qur'an, but usually with its literal meaning of "witness". The first martyr in
Islam was the old woman Sumaya bint Khabbat
http://www.islam-qa.com/QA/6%7CIslamic_history_and_biography(Tareekh_wa_al-Seerah)/Mutafarraqaat_(Miscellaneous)/The_first_female_martyr_in_Islam.10061998.2223.shtml , the first Muslim to die at the hands of the polytheists of
Mecca (specifically,
Abu Jahl.) A famous person widely regarded as a martyr - indeed, an archetypal martyr for the Shia - is
Husayn bin Ali, who died at the hands of the forces of the
caliph Yazid I at
Karbala.
See
Persecution of Muslims for more detail.
Martyrdom today
The term has since been used
metaphorically for people killed in a
historical struggle for some cause, such as
Steve Biko or
Rachel Corrie, or those whose deaths served to galvanize a particular movement, such as
Matthew Shepard.
In the
20th century, many
Muslims called suicide bombers belonging to
Islamist and
Palestinian nationalist groups claim to be "martyrs". Such usage is very controversial and generally has not occurred in the
English media. On the other hand, the Arab word "shaheed" has been sometimes used since in English it carries no obvious emotional baggage.
A person who was expelled from school for his or her religious beliefs may be called a
school martyr, no matter whether the cause for expulsion is the student's religious beliefs or those of his or her parents.
Hero or villain?
The term "martyr" is in some ways semantically interchangeable with "hero" — both are almost always controversial. The phrase
one mans hero is another's criminal' is a simple way of expressing this disparity.
Warriors throughout history returning from battle are typically revered for "heroism" and "bravery". In recent history, those that commit criminal acts during war run the risk of military courts martial. In all cultures, war dead are considered to be in some sense "martyrs." This is true of U.S. soldiers killed in foreign military operations — the
U.S. President commonly refers to "their sacrifice" as being "for the cause of freedom." The actual word "martyr" is not used, however.
Suicide bombers in
Palestine are typically hailed as "martyrs" by many Palestinans (the actual percentage is also disputed) due to
Islam's prohibition against
suicide.
See also
:
Justin Martyr
: 1.
Rowland Taylor
: 2.
William Tyndale
: 3. John Huss
: 4. John Wycliffe
: 5.
Polycarp
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es:Mártir
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Category:Religious persecution