Editing Shahada (section)

==In Shi’i Islam==
Internal struggles within the Umma also shaped the construction of martyrdom among Shi’ite Muslims, for whom the death of the Prophet’s grandson [[Hussain ibn Ali|Hussain]] became the defining event of their history as a community. Hussain was martyred in 680 at [[Karbala]] in Iraq when his small band, accompanied by women and children, was attacked and massacred by the army of the [[Umayyad]] ruler, [[Yazid]]. Shi’ite interpretations of Karbala took Muslim ideas of martyrdom in completely new directions. Hussain’s suffering and death came to be seen not just as an individual contribution to the struggle against injustice, meriting individual reward, but as a deliberate redemptive act of cosmic significance. By choosing martyrdom Hussain ensured the ultimate victory of his community and earned the place of mediator for his people. <ref>Daniel W. Brown (2004). Encyclopedia of Islam and Muslim World. Edited by Richard C. Martin. USA: Macmillan; P: 431-434. ISBN 0-02-865912-0.</ref>

The Twelver Shi’i list of martyrs begins with Abel (Qabil) and continues through history to include the prophet Muhammad and eleven of the twelve imams, the exception being the still-expected [[Chahardah Maʿsum|Twelfth Imam]]. Within [[Shiʿa|Shi'ism]] the visiting of the graves of the martyrs—preeminently but not exclusively the imams—has special religious significance, as do weeping for them (or even pretending to weep), and suffering distresses similar to those of Hussain and his companions, such as thirst. 

[[Shiʿa|Shi'ism]], especially since the establishment of the [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids Safavid dynasty] at the beginning of the sixteenth century, elaborated the motif of cultivated martyrdom as a religious and cultural ideal to an unprecedented degree. Indeed, according to some contemporary Shiʿi authorities, the true meaning of the mystical term fanaʿ (annihilation, selflessness) is none other than the sacrifice of the physical life in the path of Islam. <ref>as related in a speech by [[Ayatollah Sayyid Mahmud Ṭaleqani]] [d. 1979], p. 68.</ref>