Sacrifice and Martyrdom and Their Relationship with Time, Place, Religion and Culture

Being killed for the sake of one’s believes and sometimes for the sake of loving one’s country and sometimes for both is also martyrdom. Although in the Islamic beliefs a martyr is a person who has consciously dedicates his / her life for the sake of God, but emphasizing on freedom in this world accounted for in religious teachings and narratives from Innocent Imams especially Imam Hussein which illustrate the value of the death of great men and women who have lost their lives to fight against cruelty. Islam also considers a high position for the martyrs and martyrdom and places the martyrs equal to the prophets and the truthful people: “and whoever obeys Allah and the messenger, these are with those upon whom Allah has bestowed favors from among the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good, and a goodly company are they!”? It is mentioned in the narratives from Prophet Mohammad (S. A.) that: There is a good thing over any good action except for dying for the sake of God over which there is no good. All in all it can be said that the concept of martyrdom and generosity have been accepted in all the human cultures and religions set by God as well as according to the human wisdom. They are similar in: 1.This necessity is understood and described according to the common natural characteristics. 2.This necessity is understandable when all the public and community are threatened by the transgressors or when the society is caught in the trap of the enemy and despotic countries. 3.This concept is the only remaining way to break the silence of the public and amend the conditions of the society. 4.These ideals, values, and common norms are so valuable that it is worth losing lots of lives for the sake of their preservation from the point of view of the wise people and are accepted in all religions sent by God or at least they are respectful. They are located among the saints of every society by the future generations and the inheritors of the se values. The reason that these generous people have been held dear during history is that these societies and communities have deeply understood that they did have great effects on the civilization, culture, peace, and immunity of these communities.

News ID: ۹۷۷۳۸

يکشنبه - ۱۷ خرداد ۲۰۰۸ / 2008 17 March

Human characteristics and the concepts of Ethical values, as sacrifice, need to be expounded during the present era and they are not separate from general conditions of humanity. Conditions, just for being concepts, have been reversed in the hands of some and created inappropriate conditions instead of values and norms and need a comprehensive amendment and alteration among all communities. It is this aspect of the issue that makes it a world issue and we can divide this world community in to three parts: 1.Some have revolted against humanity because of evil intentions and in order to dominate nations and stealing their properties and wealth to eradicate human values and culture and get hold of the control of many countries cruelly. This small group try very hard to replace their values in the ste4ad of the national values by the use of different means such as propaganda, by the use of visual and auditory as well as the press. They want to control people by influencing people’s ideas and behavior, corrupting human character, intelligence and leading the spiritual and ethical lives of the nations astray. They want to create their own concepts and issues as well as terms under the aegis of globalization and replacement of their values and publicizing and promoting their thoughts and ideas and force others to think about these issues and prove their superiority over the other nations as such. 2.The second group is comprised of a great multitude of people who tolerate and come along with cruelties, and oppressions due to their engagement in daily affairs and oblivion, and some despite their awareness and understanding the philosophy of truth and wrong tolerate these things due to their lack of self _ respect and the others for their fear. 3.The third group is composed of a minority commit self sacrifice or group sacrifice in order to wake the majority up and save them and resist the trespassers and transgressors of the world. If this group bases their sacrifice for the sake of revenge and enmity and in order to get control of people, then, they will be the same as those who revolted against. They soon become a threat for the human society and they themselves soon become allies to their coalitions to oppress and repress people and participate in the promotion of war, insecurity and havoc. There are a lot of examples such obvious examples of cooperation among the absolutists of the world and those who seek sovereignty over the other as well as terrorist groups who are taking advantage of the sacrificial spirit of credulous people, the discussion of which can not be covered by this essay. But the second group of this category includes those whose bases of thought and motivation are humanitarian and Godly and they are making use of inspiration and human wisdom; altruism and humanitarian thinking is behind their intentions. People as such are not without background; they have to be brought up according to the basic principles; human values and truthful beliefs have been cultivated in their minds; great and Godly ideals and supreme human values have become strong faith which has been instilled for ever. Human being is a creature who is under the effects of different observation and sensations in his / her life and thus follows his way towards fulfillment and maturity and he / she makes this easier by setting the human beings around him / her as his / her paradigm. Therefore the human condition and environment where such people grow up are very important especially nowadays and in future. Nowadays, four major factors have encompassed human beings: Home, school, religious places and mosques, and the press Each of these factors has their own impacts. House and family are the oldest social institutions that had determinative role, along with religious places, church and mosques, in the happiness and good fortune of human being; they also had roles in determining social justice and seeking spirituality. Since the time that the Public Education in its modern sense formed, the educational centers have tried to weaken religious places and family. In modern era, the press has entered the arena as the fourth factor and had affected human beings and communities inevitably and weakened the remnants of family and religious places; they were strayed from their normal course. In any society where the limitations are loose, it is clear that the families, religious places, have been ostracized and education has gone astray from its presupposed goals; such societies have been more fragile in confrontation with the oppressors and helped them be successful in their objectives. In such societies usually such people show themselves as those who want to sacrifice themselves but they are seen as Protestants and rebellions, who, due to their lack of ability in presenting any paradigm, seem never as the saints of our times. Nowadays monopoly press have entered every geographical and cultural borders and got hold of most of the countries. News cartels, along with the Disney Lands of the founders of corruptions, are demolishers of cultures and folklores and are intended to replace the native values and customs with those their owns. At present times one of the strategies of the world powers to trespass the borders of different countries is via the press where every thing is broadcasted through news, reports, interpretation, novel, serial, and films. Therefore in present times, focusing on the rejuvenation of families, and religious places as well as their primary roles along with their relationship together is inevitably beneficial. Therefore it is one of the basic necessities of the modern age that the families and religious centers as well as churches take their leading roles and try to bring the position of religion and family to the fore. The Role of Women in the Present Era The most important factor in any reformative movement in any social institution that can be highly effective is the role of women; when the men of their societies are gone astray, they are able to illustrate their sacrificial spirit; the actions taken by the Palestinian women are of this kind. On the other hand, the importance of the ability of women in training liberal, determined, and valuable men who are ready for death and martyrdom at the time of necessity is what not to be forgotten. The most important factor that enlivens love, friendship and sacrifice is the illumination of the spirit of mother. Those, who have been grown up in families where mothers were alive and ready to offer their loves and mercy to their children, are never corrupted and step in society with the spirit of mercy and love for they have experienced such an environment in a smaller society. The love of a mother as one of the main factors in training children is one of the factors which foster such characteristics in human beings. Great humanitarian values such as love, amnesty, sacrifice, and self _ abnegation are values which are fostered only in the light of social laws and if human beings can be brought up in such environment where it is full of love and amnesty, he / she can show such traits upon his / her entrance to society. The great philosopher of the present age, Ayatollah Javadi Amoli, on the importance of the role of women in transporting such values to the members of the family, believes that: “The role of a woman in creating / forming the relationship of his husband as the father of her children to be born and fostering the spirit of mercifulness, generosity, and love among them, indicates that the originality of the family is interdependent on women. Although it seems that women are bereft of their unique ability in training and transmitting values, which are their innate characteristics, by different methods of entertainment and by the use of different slogans and propaganda they are trying to bereave women of their motherhood position. Rafa Maria, an executive in a German TV channels writes in her book, “Afa’s Insights”?, accounts for these entertainments as follow: We, women, have conquered the world, we did what we wanted, we did works in a manly environment from day to day, we are fighting ourselves to achieve a status and position at the expense of losing one’s position as a mother and having children. When we bear a child, we pass it to the strangers as soon as possible. Let’s ask ourselves in our solitudes if it was worth losing motherhood’s joys for the sake of them. Rehabilitating women by those who are responsible for religious affairs so that they understand their positions as mothers is effective factors in bringing the society back to rereading of common concepts to achieve peace and immunity. In issues such as war, defense, and martyrdom, women play an effective factor since they are present from day to days in different scenes of the world. In addition to bringing up children who seek martyrdom and hence in all society, women directly affect their husbands, fathers and brothers. The spirits of mercifulness and love of mother shows itself at war, too. Our holy defense war is one of these cases; Iranian soldiers have created scenes which are indicative of their humanitarian and kindness with the handicapped, women and children and such scenes are unique in the history of the world wars. Such humanistic scenes on the part of Iranian soldiers in the warfare owe to women’s direct or indirect influences in the back front pf the 8 years of forced war. Although this issue has not been subject to close psychological and sociological investigations, but by a cursory look one can decipher that there are obvious differences in comparing our war with those of the wars occurred in the world. Accounting for the leading roles of Muslim women in providing the fighting sources in Iran, Lebanon, and Palestine requires researchers, sociologists, and social psychologist to investigate this issue with great care and attention. In these scenes it can easily be seen that even at the crises of wars the spiritual and emotional spirit of women have dawn the fighters to equilibrium in fighting enemy. While in societies where mothers have lost their positions as the care taker of the family who plays the roles of mother and wife, their social scenes are full of violence and vice as well as lack of immunity. If any society, according to its own freedom, independence spirit, fighting cruelties, has preserved its values and common norms: first of all, it is the butt of the transgressing countries and secondly it has a greater mission in leading its people out of the trap of the oppressors and repressors. On this basis, women in such societies have universal and unique roles that can not be avoided where their consciousness, self _ respect in performing this mission, will ensure the immunity, justice and spirituality of the human society. Sources: 1.Amid, Hassan. Persian Dictionary of Amid. Page: 640. Amir Kabir Press: 1978. 2.Qur’an: Ale Imran, Ayah 81. 3.Qur’an: Cow, Ayah. 143. 4.Qur’an: Nisa, Ayah 166. 5.Qur’an: Fakher, Ayah 51. 6.Qur’an: Ale Imran, Ayah 180. 7.Qur’an: Yasin, Ayah 65. 8.Qur’an: Ale Imran, Ayah 180. 9.Qur’an: Cow, Ayah. 282. 10.Torah, Medea: 14 : 2. 11.Ibid. 5 : 1 _ 12, 12: 20. 12.Bible: Patience. 22 : 13. 13.Nosrati, Marzieh. Principles of Martyrdom in Qur’an and the Holy Bible. Research Department of Martyrs’ Foundation. 2001. 14.Amid, Hassan. Persian Dictionary of Amid. Page: Amir Kabir Press: 1978. 15.Shaeri, Mohammad Hussein. Investigating the Wills of the Martyrs of Education Ministry of Golestan Province. Research Department of Martyrs’ Foundation. 2006. 16.Bible: 24 : 86. 17.Ibid. The witnesses should witness Christ’s Prophetic Position and this is with pain due to the Christ’s death. 18.Eastern Holy Bible: Vol. 5: page: 45. 19.Qur’an: Nisa, Ayah 69. 20.Arien, Abbas. The Art and Principles of War. Page: 2. 21.J. Fuller. Tanks in the great war./ 1914-1918 / London / Murray / 1985. 22.Maneir Du Zoir: From Conquering Countries to the Flight of the Minds. Spe. OKL. 2000. 23.Conflict with U. S. A. Why? 1994. Translated by: Jafer Jarehe. Garaud by Roger. 24.Javadi Amoli, Ayatollah. Woman in Her Beauty and Postion. Raja Publication. 1196. 25.Afa Maria. Afa’ Insights for New Womanhood. Munich: Pendo. .