Is Islam A Death Cult?

[Leonardo17]

In the Quran and hadith, martyrs are first and foremost those who have died in jihad, “fighting in the path of God,” those who have perished violently in battle.

Certainly, death in battle is not the only way to achieve martyrdom in Islam. Those who die unjustly or whose lives are truncated by some act of God are martyrs as well. Someone who is killed for their money, someone who drowns, someone who dies building a mosque or in a structural collapse, a woman who dies in childbirth, the victims of a plague, someone who is killed defending their family, someone who is killed for speaking truth to an unjust ruler, who dies in prison or who stands alone for truth in corrupted times; even (according to one hadith) someone who falls in love and represses their desire with fatal consequences—all these are martyrs.

Source: (https://tinyurl.com/3xtv3b39)

In the article he goes on to take a very erudite and western interpretation of the Quran and the meaning of Duty.

"What if Muslims restored this idea of ‘bearing witness’ to the word martyrdom? What if we thought of martyrdom as bearing witness by being willing to die in the name of that God Who tells us that saving one life is like saving all of humanity, that standing up to injustice is the highest act of faith, that feeding the stranger and the orphan, and sheltering the wayfarer are the solemn duties of every individual? The Quran (41:33) tells us, “What better word is there than calling out to God, doing a good deed and saying, Indeed I am one of those who submits to God.”"

Certainly, death in battle is not the only way to achieve martyrdom in Islam. Those who die unjustly or whose lives are truncated by some act of God are martyrs as well.
 
- No they are not. Actually this idea of martyrdom comes from the Greeks. The term is “eu teleuein” (to end well). The reason for that is simple: if you have an army and everybody thinks “Oh I’m not going to see my children again / There are things in this life I really wanted to do etc.” that army will start walking backward instead of moving forward.
+ 2) A child who is fighting Leukemia is also fighting like crazy. So there is no “higher” afterlife for anyone who dies in battle. Still: If you die protecting others, that is still good karma for you. So it is important to see these differences.
I did check your source but it’s not the way we see it. The encyclopedia of Islam says otherwise. Martyrdom is for soldiers only.
 
The Quranic Refference to that is: “Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, “ 22 / 58-59
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaheed
 
“"What if Muslims restored this idea of ‘bearing witness’ to the word martyrdom? What if we thought of martyrdom as bearing witness by being willing to die in the name of that God Who tells us that saving one life is like saving all of humanity, that standing up to injustice is the highest act of faith, that feeding the stranger and the orphan, and sheltering the wayfarer are the solemn duties of every individual? The Quran (41:33) tells us, “What better word is there than calling out to God, doing a good deed and saying, Indeed I am one of those who submits to God.”"”
 
-       Something like that
 
The main issue in religious thought in our time is superficiality and constant preoccupation with issues that don’t really matter a lot. If we go back 100 years, the belief systems of many people all around the world where not entirely correct (that’s my understanding) but in the 1920’s, the ordinary Christian or ordinary Muslim had this degree of sincerity we don’t have today. Ex: When you swore on the Bible, it actually meant something to most people. In that time you wouldn’t just cross you fingers and say whatever you wanted. So this sincere devotion alone was leading people somewhere. And this is why conservative people all around the world are seeking some form of “return to the past” which is nothing but a pipe dream in practical terms.
 
   So today you have an option between being a phony and/or superficial type of believer, or to go with the flow and have a more in-depth approach toward religious / spiritual teachings. My path is the second path.
 
   So in this subject: The message I am reading is “Don’t be afraid to defend your country if you have to. For I am here and I am the One who is seeing everything”.
 
   That’s my way of reading this singular message. But, I told you about the phony / insincere approach to religious teachings. They will take the same text and come out with something like “Those who died in the earthquake in February in Eastern Turkey are Martyrs”
 
Meaning: “It’s not really our fault you know. We issued permits for inadequate permits. Now 100,000 persons have died because of us and our inadequate policies on construction rules. But they are martyrs. Got did this. Not us. We were just sitting in our Islamic ally segregated 5 star hotels (I’ll explain what that is in a later post), sniffing cocaine in our luxury cars while pretending to be the true adherents to Islam”.
 
- So it’s not their fault. It is God who told them to do such things (or something like that).
 
So my faith is: We need to be more intellectual, more discerning and less lazy than our forefathers (I mean believers all around the world whatever their faith is). Because sincerity is gone. So if we chose to be devoted. We need to see what this thing we devote ourselves to is. Than they can be results. That’s how I see it.