It's probably not the right place for posting this question but watching the thread with the helo accident and belegs post about Martyrs it came to me again.. what is the definition of a Martyr? shouldn't someone die in war or it's enough to be in the military for becoming one?

Thanks in advance for any help and answers..

Well i am not a religion expert, but one who dies serving the country and his people protecting them from harm is called a martry. People who die in natural disasters, plagues etc. are also considered martyrs in Islam as far as i know. Of course the prerequisite is that they have to be faithfull muslims.

It does not have to be in a war but rather while serving your country even during peacetime. Also you don't have to be in the military. All law enforcement personnel as well as those from the intelligence community who get KIA or as a result of accidents during service are also considered martyrs.

In Turkey, even the public workers and teachers who were killed by PKK were considered martyrs.

Thanks alot guys... i was a bit confused with the term since it was used frequently and for cases that seemed improper to me such as accidents..

Yes the word "sehit" is used for those people who died serving the country, be it military or public/government servants in war or accidents. It is considered an honorable title and the person's grave will have sehit written before his name. Some of the more religious believe that these people automatically go to heaven...

Likewise "gazi" is used for those who were wounded.

All are terms leftover from the Ottoman era.

Actually the very concept of martyrdom as adopted in Turkey is quite different from that of generally accepted Islamic version.

We call all who died in the service for their country whether Turks or foreigners, Muslims, or Christians, whether soldiers or teachers as martyrs. Whereas in standard Islamic version martyrs are those who died in jihads, serving Islam.

That was the definition i knew too... thus the confusion..

On the other hand, in Greek we don't use such a term although the word martyr is used by Christian religion refering to those that had a violent death via torture (Torture = Martyrio in Greek) so a Martyr (Martyras in Greek) is the one that had to suffer a torture..

Offcourse the word is used in everyday Greek for the words "witness" (Martyras) and "Confession" (Martyria/Omologia) but even this has the same route (in order to say that you witnessed something you undergo an interogation, a torture, then you confess..)

Personally I dont find the whole idea of martyrship fitting for a modern society. I think they should not use these kinds of words in Turkey.

I also think its missfiting for the victims of terrorist attacks. AFAIK a martyr is someone who accpets his suffering for his cause. People dieing of terrorist attacks didnt accept to die they were victims no martyrs.

As for soldiers and those involved in security and intelligence I also find it missfitting. Why do we need to glorify their death. Cant we instead glorify how they lived while serving their nation. The nation is a secular republic, we dont need to use such defentions of religous tone.

I ve just seen it. But it s not fully right. There are lots of verses about protection of nation,ur people in Quran. If you protect ur nation,people,it means that at the same time u protect ur religion. B)



We ordained therein for them: "Life for life, eye for eye, nose or nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal." But if any one remits the retaliation by way of charity, it is an act of atonement for himself. And if any fail to judge by (the light of) what God hath revealed, they are (No better than) wrong-doers.

(The Noble Quran, 5:45)


O ye who believe! the law of equality is prescribed to you in cases of murder: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the woman for the woman. But if any remission is made by the brother of the slain, then grant any reasonable demand, and compensate him with handsome gratitude, this is a concession and a Mercy from your Lord. After this whoever exceeds the limits shall be in grave penalty.

(The Noble Quran, 2:178)


verses dont say "life fo Islam, eye for Islam"... B)


at the end of my post,


Twice will they be given their reward, for that they have persevered, that they avert evil with good, and that they spend (in charity) out of what We have given them.
Verse 28:54


regards.

everybody lives religion in heart that there s no need to show someone around. But it doesnt mean to say "religion soul conflicts with reality"
martyrs---my friends killed on mountains...what s ur proposal to me about calling them while not to use "religion tone" but also give them honor?
In Turkey, martyr word means "died while protecting nation and people" and it doesnt conflict with religion.





regards.

That is correct in the sense that sehit (roughly pronounced shey-hit) has completely lost it's connection with religion and is now more of a patriotic term. I don't see any problem with as it is basically a label that demonstrates how an individual died for his/her country, and pays respect to them and their family. Also, it may actually inspire/give courage to individuals for serving the country and actually "soothes" society into accepting and recognizing these people's sacrifices. Which is why, if we notice, the Turkish society tends to be generally more accepting to high casualties as compared to say countries like the US. However, if we look at it in another way, this term may actually glorify war too...

You may have heard the humerous phrase:

"Ne sehit, ne gazi... bok yoluna gitti Niazi."

Which insinuates that it is better to be a martry or get wounded for the country then dying some other way...

Well most of the guys who served in the same brigade with me were honestly saying that they wish they served in the mountains fighting the terrorists among their friends rather than training for a war that probably will never happen.

For the ordinary Turk religion still plays a role in life, although we mostly are secular we are still faithfull and ones who die serving an protecting the nation die for the values promoted by Islam thus can be considered martyrs given that they have faith in God.

My point is it has nothing to do with faith in god or dying for some higher cause that it can be defined as martyrs. They are doing their jobs (soldiers) or were victims of terrorist attacks and should therefor be called victims and not martyrs.

But perhaps it is because the Turkish vocabulary lacks an appropiate defenition for the word victim (kurban isnt fitting) and therefor uses the word şehit (martyr) instead.