There is a lot of talk about people who die from the plague getting the rank of a martyr. This is due to sahih hadith which refer to it such as the hadith narrated by Abu Hurayrah who said that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said:
The martyrs are five:
- The one who dies of the plague
- The one who dies of a stomach disease
- The one who drowns
- The one who is crushed beneath a falling wall
- The martyr who is killed for the sake of Allah.
– Bukhari (2829) and Muslim (1914)
Alhamdulillah we know that martyrs (Shaheed) have a high rank in Jannah, if not amongst the highest ranks i.e the status of the martyr comes after the Prophets and Siddeeqoon. This is from verse 69 of surah al-Nisa when Allah says,
“then they will be in the company of those on whom Allah has bestowed His Grace, of the Prophets, the Siddeeqoon, the martyrs, and the righteous”
Imam al-Nawawi has said that martyrs are of three types:
1 – Martyr of Dunya and Akhirah
The one who is killed in a war against the kuffar by any means of fighting. He comes under the heading of martyrs who are rewarded in the Hereafter and he comes under the rulings on martyrs in this world, i.e. he should not be washed and the funeral prayer should not be offered for him.
2 – Martyr of Akhirah
The one who is given the reward of the martyr but does not come under the rulings on martyrs in this world. This refers to those who die of stomach diseases, the plague, being crushed under a falling wall, those who are killed defending their wealth and others who are mentioned in the saheeh haadith as being described as martyrs. Such a person should be washed and the funeral prayer should be offered for him, but in the Hereafter he will have the reward of the martyrs.
3 – Martyr of Dunya
Those who are killed in a war against the kuffar but did not have the right intention of doing it for Allah i.e. to gain wealth or show off etc. Such a person comes under the ruling of martyrs in this world, so he should not be washed and the funeral prayer should not be offered for him, but he will not have the reward of the martyr in the Hereafter and Allah Knows Best.
From within the first two classes there are ranks and the ranks of the first class is above the rank of the second class – although it is still high.
One may ask, as indeed I did, why does the one who die from the plague or a disease receive the very high rank of the martyr? Our teacher, Shaykh Ahmed Saad, answered the question for me which I paraphrase by saying, when one is attacked by a disease or a plague etc they are fighting an invisible enemy, their soul is in their hand, it is a huge test of their faith. If you have been tested with a debilitating disease it is a huge test as you will question, why me, why am I made to suffer, but you persevere, sometimes for years and keep your faith in Allah, it is like staring death in the face on the battlefield, it is scary, it is hard and so the reward for those who maintain faith is high.
Whilst we don’t ask to have our faith tested nor to be killed by disease or plague, we ask Allah to give us the rank of a martyr inshallah
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