A correction regarding "only guaranteed" route to heaven.

Submitted by zzazzeefrazzee (United States), Mar 22, 2008 at 17:56

Thanks for your reply, and I will try my best to take your advice.

That said, there is just one point I'd like to make:

"Military martyrdom of the faithful cuts through all that crap and sends you straight to paradise and allows you to intercede on behalf of others who on balance may not a have made it. This makes it the only guaranteed way into paradise."

I'm ntot denying that, but I do think you overlook other examples taht are found in the traditions:
Ex. Women who die in Childbirth. They are also accorded a martyr's status, as are thos who die of certain diseases and in natural catastrophes. This view is derived from the Hadith narrated by Narrated Jabir ibn Atik:

"What is it that you consider as martyrdom?" they answered, "To be killed in a holy war", the prophet then said : The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: There are seven types of martyrdom in addition to being killed in Allah's cause: one who dies of plague is a martyr; one who is drowned is a martyr; one who dies of pleurisy is a martyr; one who dies of an internal complaint is a martyr; one who is burnt to death is a martyr; who one is killed by a building falling on him is a martyr; and a woman who dies while pregnant is a martyr. (hadith narrated by Abu Dawud, (Book 20, No. 3105). Also reported by an-Nasai, Ibn Majah and Ibn Hibban, see al-Mundhiri, at-Targhib wa at-Tarhib min al-Hadith ash-Sharif, II/335. There are slight variations of the tradition; "Leprosy" is substituted for "pleurisy", and "internal complaint" is interpreted by some to mean death from a virus.

So in the Islamic tradition, the individuals mentioned therein are also guaranteed the right to paradise, are they not? Therefore it would seem that in the Islamic view, martyrdom, meaning death in a Holy War alone cannot be considered the ONLY guaranteed route to Paradise.

In short: Guaranteed? yes; but the only guarantee? Obviously not.

My asking Jennifer to explain her interpretation was therefore not obfuscating, nor pedantic. Had she really been interested to learn more about the matter rather than preach to me, she would have found the reference given above. Furthermore, the verses she cited does not mention the words "only guarantee", and she only cited that and someone who told her that's what it meant. My point is that most of the sources that she cited purposely overlook hadith such as that which I've mentioned when making their arguments. Furthermore, there is a tendency to overlook the OT verses I mentioned in which God clearly orders the killing of unbelievers.

That said, I certainly made a mistake in not citing the above Hadith in my first response.

Thank you!

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