A form of religious violence
Totalitarian regimes produced martyrs amongst those who are persecuted for their convictions or religious practices. This is still the situation in many regions where minorities are not guaranteed peaceful co-existence and where sectarian emotions are regularly inflamed. Moreover, the term extends to non religious political and moral struggle in the recognition of ‘martyrs of the nation' and ‘martyrs of liberty', for example. Many movements of all kinds have embraced and do embrace it in order to legitimise their cause and glorify their combatants. But today the ‘religious revival' also encompasses martyrdom and its celebration.
In the Qu'ran the word ‘shahid', martyr, is used in the sense of ‘witness', a usage which harks back to the Greek etymology of the term ‘martyr'. In the early centuries the Muslim martyr offered himself as a sacrifice in the fight for Islam. He did not submit passively to the assaults of the enemy but fought to the death to defend or extend his religion. In spite of Christian influences absorbed during the Crusades, being tortured or killed in the service of the faith was not highly valued in Sunni Islam, perhaps because until the nineteenth century, Sunnis found themselves less often in a minority situation than Christians. Martyrdom is especially esteemed in religious minorities. In reality, it is Shi'ism, a minority within Islam, which has promoted martyrdom as a fundamental principle, as they commemorate each year the martyrdom of Hussein[1] , son of Ali[2].
But the vogue for calls to action in the form of suicide missions is recent; it is rooted in the struggle against European imperialism of the nineteenth century. Since that time the links between martyrdom and holy war (jihad) have intensified and become more complex. Since the 1980's, certain Islamic groups have reclaimed the title of martyr in relation to suicide missions. A new era both ‘martyrist' and jihadi, initiated by Al Qaeda, is far from over, since ‘jihadi martyrdom' has become both universalised and diversified. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Daesh and its allies brandish it as one of their most formidable weapons.
Christian communities in the East have for their part are (re)discovering the harsh realities of persecution and also, in extreme circumstances, martyrdom .The murder of Father Jacques Hamel[3] in his church in Normandy in 2016 seems to confirm that the martyrdom of Christians and the discourse raised by it is not confined to regions where Christianity is historically a minority .
Furthermore, certain Catholic theologians have not held back in their wish to redefine, or reinvent, martyrdom for the twenty-first century. They believe that this is a genuine spiritual path to counter the prevailing nihilism . Of course, their argument relates to martyrdom in the broad and metaphorical sense, in other words, the spirit of sacrifice which enables an acceptance of suffering in the name of divine love, to “take up one's cross, the burden of reality”, to use the vocabulary of the collective authors of Repenser le martyre. Enjeux historiques et spirituels (2008) (Rethinking martyrdom. The historical and spiritual stakes).
