Definition of Martyrs
Hazrat Ubadah (ra) bin Samit relates that the Holy Prophet (sa) went to visit Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Rawaha whilst he was sick and was unable to get up from his bed. The Holy Prophet (sa) asked, “Do you know who the martyrs of my ummah [people] are?”
The people answered, “The martyrs are those Muslims who are slain.” The Holy Prophet (sa) said, “In that case, there would be very few martyrs in my ummah” and then said, “The Muslim who is slain is a martyr, the one who dies due to an ailment of the stomach is a martyr, the one who drowns is a martyr and the woman who dies during childbirth is a martyr – all these are various types of martyrdom.”
(Al-Tabaqaat-ul-Kubra, Vol. 3, pp. 398-400, Dar-ul-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, 1990) (Mujam-ul-Buldan, Vol. 4, p. 187) (Al-Tabaqaat-ul-Kubra, Vol. 2, p. 13, Dar-ul-Kutub al Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 1990)