8 - Martyrdom in contemporary radical Islam

Summary

Of the believers, there are men who have fulfilled what they pledged to Allah; some of them have died, some are waiting, without changing in the least.

Qurʾan 33:23

From the first centuries of Islam, martyrdom has been important but not crucial in the growth of the religion. As detailed in Chapters 4 and 5, most Muslim martyrs were martyrs for one particular sect or branch of Islam (and were often demonized by its opponents). There are comparatively few examples of martyrs who actually died in a cause that could represent Islam in its ontological form, other than fighters and Sufi missionaries, which are categories that often overlapped. Muslims rarely had to choose between giving up their faith and torture or death, with the exception of slaves or those captured by Europeans, and most who achieved the title of “martyr” were in fact martyred by those who claimed to be Muslims themselves. Although during this time – from the thirteenth through nineteenth centuries – Muslims continued to expand aggressively, and sometimes used the slogans of jihad in order to legitimize this expansion, most of the conquest was achieved by governmental initiative. There was little need to make the call for jihad, since in general, at least during the early part of this period, Islam was expanding gradually.

But by the end of the seventeenth century, that trend was reversing, especially in areas bordering upon lands controlled by Europeans or claimed by them.