I received today my copy of a new book by David Cook entitled: Martyrdom in Islam I purchased this book because I figured that though I am giving a theological account of martyrdom from a confessional standpoint, the phenomenology of martyrdom is a growing field, and the interest in Islamic martyrdom is widespread. It is certainly worth asking the question from the religious studies point of veiw: 'is Christian martyrdom an entirely different entity to Islamic martyrdom?' Cook is a defender of Islam from reduction to its radical elements and argues the case that Islamic martyrdom is not at root about suicide and militancy to the extent that it has been portrayed in the West. His diagnosis of the fear and loathing with which the West regards the whole reverence for martyrs is very interesting, too.
He gives a brief sketch of the rise of Jewish martyrdom in the Seleucid period and beyond as recorded in the books of the Maccabees. Jesus for him is 'the best known Jewish martyr'. What he doesn't ask is whether there were pagan sources which are relevant for the study of Christian martyrdom (and are thus inherited by Islamic hagiographers): interestingly, the early Christian theologians like Origen and Tertullian do make comparisons with the great pagan noble heroes of yore in their descriptions of martyrdom. As with Christianity, the martyrs of Islam are a crucial reference point for the business of shaping the identity of the group.
