Shahid (martyr: the rank of martyrs, the kinds of martyr, washing and prayer over the dead, the shroud and burial)

In language shahid means present and witnessing; among the names of God is the Witness, and the word is used of one killed in God's cause. In the jurists' sense it is a Muslim who dies fighting the unbelievers or because of that fighting, and some others are counted with him for matters of the hereafter. His rank with God is high, shown by the Qur'an in the verse of the Family of 'Imran (169-171) that those killed in God's cause are not dead but alive with their Lord and provided for, and by the verse of the Women (74); and a report says that no one who enters Paradise wishes to return to the world except the martyr, who wishes to be killed ten times for what he sees of honour. ^{1 2}

There are three kinds: the martyr of this world and the next, the martyr of this world, and the martyr of the next world. The first is killed in battle with the unbelievers, advancing and not turning back, so that God's word is highest, with no worldly purpose; the report of Abu Musa says that whoever fights so that God's word is highest is in God's way. The martyr of this world is killed in battle but had stolen from the booty, or fought to be seen, or for a worldly end. The martyr of the next world is killed unjustly outside battle, or dies of a bowel disease, plague, drowning, or in exile, or while seeking knowledge, or a woman who dies in childbirth; the sinner in exile and the sinner who drowns in the course of sin are excepted. The reports count five: the one who dies of plague, of a bowel disease, of drowning, under a collapsed building, and in God's cause; plague is a martyrdom for every Muslim, and whoever is killed defending his property is a martyr. ^{2 3}

• Most jurists do not wash the martyr who dies in the battle line, against al-Hasan al-Basri and Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab. ³
• Prayer: the Hanafis hold that it is obligatory, citing the Prophet ﷺ's prayer over the martyrs of Uhud and the report of Shaddad ibn al-Hadi about the bedouin who was killed and over whom the Prophet prayed. The Malikis and Shafi'is forbid it. The Shafi'is say washing and praying over the martyr are forbidden, because he is alive by the Qur'anic text, and because the Prophet buried the martyrs of Uhud in their blood without washing them or praying over them. The Hanbalis forbid the washing and, in the sounder report, the prayer; in another report prayer is obligatory. ^{3 7 4}
• Who is not washed: one killed by the unbelievers in battle, or found dead on the field with a wound or blood on him, is not washed. Beyond that they differ: the Malikis and Shafi'is do not wash any Muslim who died from the fighting while it went on, even if killed by a Muslim's weapon by mistake; the Hanafis wash one killed by iron unjustly who was a sane adult free of a money-compensation, or who was in a state of major impurity, or a child, or where retaliation is due; the Hanbalis wash unless the man was in a state of major impurity, though some exceptions apply. ^{4 5}
• Impurity: the Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis wash impurity other than the blood of martyrdom, even if that removes the martyr's blood; the Hanafis wash impurity. ⁵
• The wounded who lives a while and then dies (al-murtathth) is washed, even if his death from the wound was expected. ^{5 6}

The martyr of battle with the unbelievers is not shrouded like other dead, but is buried in his clothes after the weapons are removed, following the saying: bury them in their blood; a version says in their clothes. The sunna is to bury martyrs where they fell, and the Prophet's crier called for the dead to be returned to where they fell when some Companions carried them to Medina after Uhud. Two or three may be buried in one grave: the Prophet put two of the Uhud dead in one cloth, and 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr ibn Haram and 'Amr ibn al-Jamuh (may God be pleased with him) were buried in one grave because of their love for one another. ^{6 8}