The Muslim concept of martyrdom leaves something to be desired. The liberal way that Muslim leaders use the term tacitly admits this. British Muslim leader Azzam Tamimi proclaimed that "dying for your beliefs is just." Saying, "killing for your beliefs is just," simply wouldn't do. Instead, even though Tamimi is speaking of people who kill (and intentionally kill civilians for that matter) for their beliefs--the fact that they die in the process is incidental--he conjures up images of sacrifice and martyrdom. Blowing up a pizza shop, flying a plane into an occupied building, and riding the morning train with a bomb strapped to your chest is murder, not martyrdom.
And concerning the incidental part, isn't martyrdom when someone ELSE takes takes the martyrs life? The idea of a suicidal martyr is incoherent.
CSPAN just did a program with Robert Spender of Jihad Watch. He speaks a bit about how the terminology of Islam really doesn't mean what we'd like it to mean or what we are told it means.
http://www.q-and-a.org/Program/?ProgramID=1086
"Dying for your beliefs is just" implies that it is right to die for your beliefs, whatever those beliefs may be.
So does Mr. Tamimi believe in the moral justice of the Crusades? I do, but I have a feeling Mr. Tamimi and I would disagree.
Actually the origin of the term martyr is a greek word that means witness. In truth, islamic martyrs bear perfect witness to the true nature of their religion.
I used to take exception to the term martyr being applied to these murderous idiots as well, but upon reflection the term is entirely appropriate as a witness to a murderous religion started by a sex pervert.
So does Islam have any agreed upon notion of martyrdom? From what I understand of Islam it makes Protestantism look like a unified and heirarchically structured religion. That is, I think that Muslims are even more voluntarist and left to their own interpretations of their holy texts than even the most determined sola scriptura Christian sect.
The quotes from this guy you link to don't really put forth any sort of coherent statement about the nature of martyrdom for the Muslim. "The greatest act of martyrdom is standing up for what is true and just." What does that mean, is it just poor grammar? Is anything that someone who IS martyred does (e.g. "standing up for what is true") itself an ACT of martyrdom? Is martyrdom a personal action rather than a passion undergone? Christians say, Saint Justin WAS martyred, and St. Justin IS a martyr but not that he engaged in martyrdom/martyred acts.
It's murderdom!
"Murderdom" - I like that.
Christianity's history of martyrdom (though I don't know much about it, I know of it) must be significantly different from Islam's. The etymology of shaheed (Arabic for "martyr") may provide clues about the difference.
