The Difference Between Martyr and Shaheed
The problem with almost all non-Muslims is that they assume Islam is a religion just like Christianity or Judaism. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mohammed (PBUH) in fabricating his military/political system took note that the great military/political systems previous to his own, the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Assyrian, Egyptian, all withered and died (1) while the Jews, who were everywhere in the lands of the Arabs, persevered.
Realizing that the religion of the Jews has some properties of permanence, he transmogrified his fledgling empire to a religion that might endure as well; so he took parts of the Old Testament, such as what is Kosher (now called Halal) and parts of the New Testament, such as the story of Jesus (although His Divinity is denied). In this manner he hoped to induce the Jews and the Christians to join his new cult.
Interestingly, Mohammed added a proviso that insured the perpetuity of his creation, now called Islam: once you are Muslim there is no going back. The punishment for converting away from, denying, or even blaspheming against Islam is death if you are male, flogging if you are female.
To the casual observer Islam seems to be a religion similar to Christianity and Judaism, after all, Muslims hate pork as Jews do. Muslims believe, in a fashion, in Jesus of Nazareth as Christians do. The Jews have the Old Testament, the Christians have the New Testament, and Muslims have the Qur'an. However, while Christians accept the Old Testament, Muslims do not. Contrary to what many Christians believe, Muslims do not believe in the New Testament either. In Islam these two books are corrupted versions of the truth and therefore are not to be accepted as the Word of God; only the Qur'an is the uncreated, final, absolute Word of God, immutable and complete. The only reason that the Qur'an is seasoned with a sprinkling of items from the other two religions is that it was easier for Mohammed to blend what was already familiar than to create an entirely new religion from scratch.
Islam is not a religion
In all outward appearances Islam is a religion, the Qur'an is a Holy Book. However, in reality, Islam is a military/political system and the Qur'an is a military hand book of behavior. The proof that Islam is a political system follows: Countries that have significant Muslim populations have banded together into a Pan-Islamic Alliance which they call the Organization of the Islamic Conference, an association of 57 Islamic states promoting Muslim solidarity in economic, social, and political affairs. After two thousand years of Christianity there does not exist today a group of nations that act as an association of Christian states promoting Christian solidarity. A Christian Frenchman considers himself French; a Muslim Frenchman considers himself Muslim.
The same goes for Buddhism: you will never see Buddhist majority countries like Thailand (95%), Cambodia (90%), Myanmar (88%), Bhutan (75%), Sri Lanka (70%), Tibet (65%), Laos (60%), Vietnam (55%) join in a Buddhist Alliance to promote Buddhist values throughout the world [Source: adherents.com].
While Christians have been exhorted to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's, for Muslims there is no such dichotomy. Islam is both a political system and a religion. There is no difference between the Laws of Man and the Laws of God.
Very few non-Muslims understand this. Reader Lucy O'Sullivan in response to my article The Triple Talaq (divorce) and Arabic Dyslexia left this comment:
I am catholic, my sister and her children are Muslim, I know a lot about the religion and have great admiration for it, if you were to actually study it you would find it promotes peace. And before any comments appear about suicide bombers can I just point out the first Martyr was actually Jesus Christ. He did not have to die, he knew what was coming and he could have run, but chose to stay. There have been a multitude of Christian martyrs, but we see martyrs as Islamic only, I do not under any circumstances condone what the suicide bombers are doing, but then, I would not have condoned the arming and training of Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban by the U.S and U.K. either, it's easy to ignore our responsibility in this matter, we talk about our people dying but ignore that they have had people dying for the past fifty years, and as nations, both U.K. and U.S. have ignored or gotten involved only when it was beneficial to us. These countries have undergone some true horrors but it is only when we have horrors inflicted on us that we begin to take any notice.
Of course the worst thing is that the people of all of these countries are innocent, and I do include the citizens of U.K. and U.S. In this, none of us are to blame for what is happening, except that we as people were ignorant of the actions of our governments and armies.
My poor, misguided reader assumes that Martyrs are the same whether Christian or Muslim. Not at all. The word Martyr in English comes from the Greek word meaning 'witness'. So also, the word martyr in Arabic, Shaheed, means witness. However, in all other respects they differ entirely. In Christianity (and also Judaism) the meaning is of a believer who is called to witness for his or her religious belief and on this account endures suffering and death. That is to say, that the believer dies to preserve his faith.
The Shaheed, on the other hand, is one who dies in a Jihad, not to preserve his faith, but in furthering the advance of Islam. While the Christian or Jew is killed for maintaining his or her religious belief, knowing that this will almost certainly result in imminent death although without intentionally seeking death, the Shaheed kills himself to keep someone else from maintaining their religious belief, knowing that this will certainly result in imminent death and intentionally seeking death. That is to say, the action of the infidel Martyr and the Muslim Shaheed are in fact opposite to each other.
Indeed, according to Islamic sources, although both words have the same meaning of witness, the word 'shaheed' cannot be applied to non-Muslims (2).
So while reader Lucy writes that she knows a lot about Islam, it is obvious she knows very little. Conflating Muslim suicide bombers with early Christian martyrs is an insult to those Christian martyrs' memory and it astounds me that she so disrespects their suffering and deaths.
But this is what happens when misinformed fools believe that Islam is a religion.
It is also interesting that although Lucy writes that the citizens of U.K. and U.S are not to blame for what is happening, except that we as people were ignorant of the actions of our governments and armies. In other words 9/11 and the London bombings are payback for us stupid civilians for the actions of our governments. Lucy, aside from being ignorant of early Christian history, is equally ignorant of our own. Before we recognized Israel, before we set foot in Arabia, before we deposed Saddam Hussein, before we overthrew the Ottoman Empire in WWI, before any affront to Islam, before any possible provocation to a single Muslim, Muslims attacked America as soon as we became a nation. Why? Because they were Muslims and we were not. It's as simple as that (3).
Related:
The most Jewish state in the world, Israel has only 75% Jews.
The only official Hindu state in the world, Nepal only has 80% Hindus.
One of the most ethnically pure states, Poland with 97% Polish has only 90% Catholics.
Even a country that pushes no religion at all, Vietnam has only 80% non-religious.
There is only one country in the world with 100% of only one Religion: Saudi Arabia.
Countries that are predominantly non-Muslim are slowly growing their Muslim Populations. Countries that are predominantly Muslim are slowly eliminating any other religion.
Cancer slowly destroys living tissue until there is nothing left but Cancer. Do I need to say more?
ENDNOTES
(1): Interestingly all those who had persecuted the Jews have disappeared
Planck's Constant, What Happens to Enemies of Israel
Mark Twain: The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed; and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains.
(2):
albalagh.net, The Meaning of Shaheed
Mufti Taqi Usmani: Shaheed in the real sense is a Muslim who has been killed during "Jihad" or has been killed by any person unjustly. ... It is evident from the above discussion that the word "Shaheed" can only be used for a Muslim and cannot be applied to a non-Muslim at all.
(3):
Wikipedia, United States and the Barbary Wars
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson, then the ambassador to France, and John Adams, ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, a visiting ambassador from Tripoli. The Americans asked Adja why his government was hostile to American ships, even though there had been no provocation. They reported to the Continental Congress that the ambassador had told them “it was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave,” but he also told them that for what they considered outrageous sums of money they could make peace.