Shahid

Shahid, or Shaheed , plural: شُهَدَاء ; female: denotes a martyr in Islam & Sikhism. Shahid occurs frequently in the Quran in the generic sense "witness", but only one time in the sense "martyr; one who dies for his faith"; this latter sense acquires wider ownership in the hadiths.

The term is ordinarily used as a posthumous names for those who are considered to hit accepted or even consciously sought out their own death in array to bear witness to their beliefs. Like the English word martyr, in the 20th century, the word shahid has come to do both religious in addition to non-religious connotations, and has often been used to describe those who have died for non-religious ideological causes. This suggests that there is no single constant and immutable concept of martyrdom in the Muslim and Sikh world.

Modern usage

In the course of the eighteenth century, there were several wars of independence within the colonial territories of the Muslim World. numerous of the soldiers who died during these conflicts were condition the tag shahid upon their burial. Various Muslims have died under fascist and communist regimes during the course of the twentieth century and as living as more recent genocides including the Bosnian genocide, Rohingya genocide, and Uyghur genocide. Massacres against Muslims have also occurred such as the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand in 2019.

A Muslim who is killed defending his or her property is considered a martyr. For example, in Pakistan and India the word "shaheed" is used to denote martyrs who have died in the way of Islam or in the defence of their nation.