The A-Z of Believing: M is for Martyrdom

Was Jesus the first religious martyr? Ed Kessler, head of the Woolf Institute, presents the 13th part in a series on belief and scepticism

(Shutterstock/agsandrew)

Written and presented by Dr Ed Kessler MBE, founder and director of the Cambridge-based Woolf Institute, this compelling guide to religious belief and scepticism is a must-read for believers and nonbelievers alike.

Founded in 1998 to explore the relationship between religion and society, the Woolf Institute uses research and education to foster understanding between people of all beliefs with the aim of reducing prejudice and intolerance.

Says Dr Kessler: “Latest surveys suggest that 85 per cent of the world’s population identify themselves as belonging to a specific religion, and in many parts of the world the most powerful actors in civil society are religious. Understanding religion and belief, the role they play and their impact on behaviour and decision-making is, therefore, vital.”

Dr Kessler – who was awarded an MBE for services to interfaith relations in 2011 – is an affiliated lecturer with the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University, a principal of the Cambridge Theological Federation and additionally teaches at the Cambridge Muslim College.

He says: “This A-Z of Believing aims to show how the encounter between religions has influenced and been influenced by the evolution of civilisation and culture, both for good and for ill. I hope that a better understanding of believing will lead people to realise that while each religion is separate, they are also profoundly connected.”

M is for... Martyrdom

Although prepared for martyrdom, I prefer that it be postponed – Winston Churchill

For people who practise religion in comfort and face no greater physical danger than sore knees from prostration or blistered feet from pilgrimage, the idea of being a martyr seems remote. But in almost all the world’s religions, martyrdom plays an important role.

Derived from the Latin martus (literally, witness), a martyr in the early church was a Christian who suffered persecution and death for the sake of faith. Stephen, a Greek-speaking Jew, is often remembered as the first, although the Book of Revelation views Christ as the first martyr whose death is a witness to love. Martyrdom’s association with death was reinforced by persecution of Christians for their faith and a cult of martyrs soon emerged and stories recounted the faith and death. They were used as a source of encouragement to Christians, particularly in times of trial.

The Jewish understanding of martyrdom is similar. Known as ‘the sanctification of God’s name’ (kiddush ha- Shem) in Hebrew, martyrdom consists of committing acts that glorify God’s name, the highest form of which is to give up one’s life. These are still recounted in the Jewish liturgy to provide encouragement as well as solace. For Jews, two paradigms of mass suicide developed. First, suicide after armed resistance had failed, as took place at Masada when the Romans were about to overrun the defences in 73CE. Second, suicide without resistance, as took place along the Rhine during the Crusades when Jewish communities decided that they would not fall into the hands of the Crusaders and prepared themselves for death by ritual bathing, prayer and fasting.

For the Church, martyrdom was always distinguished from suicide or anything suggestive of suicide. According to the fourth century Church Father, St Gregory of Nazianzus, it is rashness to seek death, but cowardly to refuse it. Similarly, GK Chesterton remarked that the Christian "must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine".

The subject of martyrdom is controversial in Jewish-Christian relations since the Holocaust, because the events of 1933–45 have called these paradigms into question. While there were those who were martyrs affirming their belief in God, there were many others who died denying belief in God. There were also, of course, millions who had no choice of martyrdom, but were summarily executed or murdered. For them there was no sanctification, but it is common to view them all as martyrs and involuntarily sanctifying God’s name. Indeed, the martyrdom of the Holocaust is perhaps the deepest motif in the Jewish psyche today, and impacts on Jewish relations with the non-Jewish, especially Christian, world.

Islam also distinguishes martyrdom from suicide. Its tradition clearly and forcefully condemns suicide. Accordingly, the Qur’an says: "Do not kill yourselves, Allah is merciful to you, but he that does that through wickedness and injustice shall be burnt in fire." At the same time, anyone who kills himself for the sake of Allah is doing something not suicidal but sacrificial, and therefore is considered a martyr. Here, contemporary Islam and Christianity part company.

The concept of martyrdom (shahada) in Islam is understood in light of the concept of the Holy Struggle (jihad) and although the subject of much debate, it is clear that Muslim martyrs themselves understand Islam does provide a justification for a shahid to take his or her life in a violent manner that claims the lives of others in the same process. They quote violent sacred texts such as Sura 8:60, "Prepare against them whatever arms and cavalry you can muster, that you may strike terror in the hearts of the enemies of God and your own… "

This position is rejected by the vast majority of Muslim leaders, epitomised by Tahir-ul-Qadri who demolishes theological arguments in support of suicide bombers and terrorists. In a book called The Fatwa on Terrorism, he explained how jihad has been distorted and that, I quote, "no terrorism is permitted, even in war time" and nor could ‘forbidden acts be justified by so-called good intention.

But before you get worked up about violent texts in the Qur’an – and V for Violence does come up later in our A-Z of Believing – you may need reminding of the last two verses of Psalm 137, "By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept as we remembered Zion". So begins one of the most beautiful psalms of lament: a displaced people, held captive in a foreign land, unable to sing the songs of their homeland. But in the final verses the mood changes, from yearning for a lost land to anger towards the Babylonian oppressors. "A blessing on anyone who treats you as you treated us. A blessing on anyone who seizes your babies and dashes them against a rock." On that note that the psalm ends.

Small wonder it is omitted from public readings, giving comfort, as it does, to those who condemn religion as violent. Believers counter by saying that the core value of their faith is love in the case of Christianity, submission for Muslims and peace for Jews. Yet it is hard to argue with the fact that many of the world’s conflicts are, partly at least, justified by religion, reminding us that martyrdom is a proof of the intensity, not the correctness, of a belief.

Like Winston Churchill, I’d prefer my martyrdom to be postponed, permanently if possible. But I also recognise that in parts of a world where freedom of conscience faces ever-growing threats, from blasphemy laws to lynch mobs, it is not hard to find examples of martyrdom, which goes to show that there are perhaps many causes worth dying for, but to me, certainly, there are none worth killing for.

Next week is: N is for Nationalism

Listen to each episode of 'An A-Z of Believing: from Atheism to Zealotry' on the Woolf Institute podcast site or wherever you get your podcasts