Is it permissible to say of a specific person, "So-and-so is a martyr"?

Machine translationRead the Arabic original

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : No, no. Declaring a specific person a martyr is never, absolutely not permissible, except for those whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) declared as such. When someone ascended and the camel shook with them, he said:

there is none upon you except a Prophet, a Siddiq, and two martyrs

عليك نبي وصديق وشهيدان

Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3697Sahih (Darussalam)

.
But you may say: "Whoever is killed in the cause of Allah is a martyr." The Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), delivered a sermon to this effect, saying:

You say, "So-and-so is a martyr," but perhaps he has loaded his camel with stolen goods, so do not say this.

إنكم تقولون فلان شهيد ولعله قد أوقر ناقته، فلا تقولوا هذا

, meaning he loaded his camel with stolen goods,

So do not say this, but say as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever is killed in the cause of Allah is a martyr."

فلا تقولو هذا، ولكن قولوا كما قال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم : من قتل في سبيل الله فهو شهيد

Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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