A man who lives in disobedience to Allah and then drowns: is he considered a martyr or not?

The questioner : A man who lives in disobedience to Allah and then drowns: is he considered a martyr or not?

The Shaykh : As for one who drowns while he is a sinner, this is a matter in which we cannot give a definitive ruling; rather, his affair is left to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Many rulings regarding the status of martyrdom for certain people are followed by exceptions mentioned in some hadiths. As it came in Sahih Muslim that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) forgives the martyr for every sin, so Jibril (peace be upon him) said to him: "except for debt". He said: It is possible that there are exceptions in the various hadiths concerning martyrdom, a portion of which I mentioned in my book "The Rulings on Funerals and Their Innovations", that we do not know of. So, if one drowns while a sinner, his affair is left to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Especially since this issue, namely ruling on the martyrdom of a drowning person and his like, is a legal ruling (hukmi) such that no specific legal rulings are established for him as they are for a martyr in battle. As you all know, if Allah wills, a martyr in battle is not shrouded, not washed, and is buried as he is. But a martyr by legal ruling, not in reality, has none of the rulings established for him. So such a question remains an affair left to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), because nothing is established for us as a legal ruling that we must know: did he die a martyr and was he forgiven, or not? We say his affair is left to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He).