The Five Martyrs (Arabic: شھداء خمسہ) were five ulema of Shi'i Islam, living in different spans of history, who were executed by the Sunni regimes. The Shia remember them by the term Five Martyrs, and Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Hussain Najafi wrote a book Shuhada-e Khamsa kay Halaat-e Zindagi "Biographies of the Five Martyrs" as a tribute to them.
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Muhammad Jamaluddin al-Makki al-Amili (1334–1385) was the First Martyr and the author of Al-Lum'ah ad-Dimashqiya(اللمعةArabic: الدمشقية "The Damascene Glitter").
He was born in 734 A.H (ca. 1334 ) in Jabal 'Amel and was killed on Thursday the ninth of Jumada al-awwal, 786 A.H. (ca. 1385), according to the fatwa of a Maliki jurisprudent that was endorsed by a Shafi`i jurisprudent.
He was a pupil of the pupils of Allamah Hilli, amongst them Allamah's son, Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqin. Shi'i schools were banned and almost gone in Jabal 'Amel. When Muhammad al-Makki was 16 years old, he ventured to al-Hilla in Iraq where he was certified by Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqin the son of the famous al-Hilli.
By the age 21, he returned to Jabal 'Amel and was already certified to narrate hadiths by many other famous scholars of Shi'a and Sunni doctrines of Najaf, Hebron, Makka, Medina, Quds, Damascus, and Baghdad. He also built good relations with Sultan Ali ibn al-Mu'ayyad (Arabic: علي بن المؤيد) of Khorasan.
After one-year imprisonment, he was killed by the sword, then crucified, then stoned, and finally his body was set to fire in Damascus in the days of the Sultan Barquq. Due to the crusaders wars the area was suffering from poverty and ignorance was rampant as the Mamlukes took over and established a despotic rule in the region.
The First Martyr came from a very distinguished family, and the generations that succeeded him preserved this honour. He had three sons who were all 'ulema and jurisprudents, and his wife and daughter were likewise jurisprudents.[1][2]
Zayn al-Din al-Juba'i al'Amili (1506–1558) was the Second Martyr, and the author of the first Sharh of Shahid Awwal's Al-Lum'ah ad-Dimashqiya (The Damascene Glitter) titled as Ar-Rawda al-Bahiyah fi Sharh al-Lum'ah ad-Dimashqiya (الروضة البهيّة في شرح اللمعة الدمشقيّة ) (The Beautiful Garden in Interpreting the Damscene Glitter).
He was one of the greatest shi'a scholars. He studied under famous Sunni and Shi'a in Jabal 'Amel, Damascus, Cairo, Jerusalem among many others. He was known and respected by sunnis in Baalabeck for this. He was authorized to teach Muslims in the Nouriyah Islamic school according to the five schools of thought.
He became a Mujtahid at age 33 after his visits to Iraq. Since Ijtihad was forbidden and Shi'ism had a history of persecution in the area, especially that shi'ism was still strong among the people as a result of the not-so-long gone Hamdanid dynasty, some people conspired against him due to petty reasons before being judged in front of the Sultan.
He was a widely travelled man, having visited Egypt, Syria, Hijaz, Baitul Muqaddas, Iraq and Constantinople (Istanbul). Always in pursuit of knowledge, he studied from nearly twelve Sunni Ulama of fiqh. Apart from the proficiency in fiqh, he was well versed in Usool, Philosophy, Irfan, Medicine and Astronomy.
He was a man of piety, known for his austere way of life. His students have recorded in his biography that Shaheed maintained his family by selling the woods cut by himself during the nights, and then sat to teach during the day. While in Ba'lbak, he conducted classes in Fiqh according to five schools, i.e. Ja'fari, Hanafi, Shafei, Maliki and Hambali. His Sharh al-Lum'ah is a part of curriculum in almost every Hawza even today. He studied from Muhaqqiq Karaki before the later migrated to Iran.
In Rajab of 965 A.H. (1558), he was beheaded on his way to see the sultan and a shrine was built by some Turkmens on the site as they realised his stature. The person that beheaded him was killed by the Sultan orders.
Qazi Zia-ud-Din Nurullah Shustari, Amir Sayyid (1549–1610) was the Third Martyr and the author of Majalis ul Momineen.
He was an eminent jurist and alim of his time. He was born in 956 A.H. at Shushtar, one of the cities of the present Khuzestan province in South of Iran. He was sayyid by lineage and belonged to the Mar'ashi family. Qazi Nurullah Shustari was the most important Shi'a scholar of the Mughal period.[3]
His father was Sayyid Muhammad Sharif-ud-din and grandfather Sayyid Zia-ud-Din Nurullah. He received his early education at home under the tutlage of his grandfather and his father and other local tutors. In the year 979 AH he went to Mashhad, the holy city in the Khurasan province.
It was during Akbar's period, on 1 Shawwal 992/6 October 1584, Nuru'llah Shustari moved from Mashhad to India.,[4] and by another account in 1587.[5]
He was appointed an emissary by Akbar in Kashmir and was instrumental in pacifying a revolt which was in offing and he obtained the first census of the areas of Mughal Empire during Akbar's reign. This earned him great respect and trust of the Mughal emperor. On his return he was appointed as Chief Qazi (Qazi Quzaz), position equivalent of Chief Justice, of the Mughal empire.[6][7]
Under Jehangir's reign he continued to hold the same high position as in Akbar's time. But his position was now threatened because of Jehangir's more orthodox nature. Other groups which had tried to malign his position during Akbar's reign had once again become powerful and influential. Moreover he had made enemies from his involvement in settling of disputes in Kashmir and Agra. His book Ahqaq-ul-Haq (Justification of the Truth) was brought as an evidence against him. A fatwa was passed declaring him a heretic. Thus Jehangir was made to issue death orders for the Qazi. The Empire of the Great Mughals mentions this incidence as
[8] However, he had both the Sikh guru Arjan and the Shi'i Qadi Nurullah Shushtari executed, which demonstrates how different he was from Akbar. ...
Qazi Nurullah Shustari was flogged to death by Jahangir's order because of his writings and he was seventy years old at this time.[9][10]
Qazi Nurullah is known since that time as Shaheed-e-Salis (also Shahid al-Thalis) or the Third Martyr.
His tomb, which is at Agra, has been the centre of pilgrimage since the day of his martyrdom. It is also a venue where every year people gather from all over the Indian sub-continent to commemorate the anniversary of his martyrdom.
Mirza Muhammad Kamil Dehlavi was the Fourth Martyr and the author of Nuzhat-e-Isna Ashariya (نزھۃ اثنا عشريۃ). This book was a complete response to Shah Abdul Aziz Dehlavi's Tauhfa Ithna Ashari. It was due to this book that he was poisoned by the Ruler of Indian state of Jhajhar.[11]
Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muḥammad Bāqir al-Ṣadr (March 1, 1935 – April 9, 1980) was an Iraqi Twelver Shi'a cleric, a philosopher, and ideological founder of Islamic Dawa Party born in al-Kazimiya, Iraq. He is the father-in-law of Muqtada al-Sadr and cousin of both Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr and Imam Musa as-Sadr. His father Haydar al-Sadr was a well-respected high-ranking Shi'a cleric. His lineage goes back to Muhammad, through the seventh Shia Imam, Musa al-Kazim. (See Sadr family for more details.)
His father died in 1937, leaving the family penniless. In 1945 the family moved to the holy city of Najaf, where al-Sadr would spend the rest of his life. Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr completed his religious teachings at religious seminaries under al-Khoei and Muhsin al-Hakim at the age of 25 and began teaching.
While teaching he became a prominent member of the Iraqi Shia community, and was noted for his many writings. His first works were detailed critiques of Marxism that presented early ideas of an alternative Islamic form of government. Perhaps his most important work was Iqtisaduna, one of the most important works on Islamic economics. This work was a critique of both socialism and capitalism. He was subsequently commissioned by the government of Kuwait to assess how that country's oil wealth could be managed in keeping with Islamic principles. This led to a major work on Islamic banking that still forms the basis for modern Islamic banks.
He also worked with Sayyid Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim in forming an Islamist movement in Iraq. This attracted the attention of the Baath Party, which resulted in numerous imprisonments for the Ayatollah. He was often subjugated to torture during his imprisonments, but continued his work after being released.
In 1977, he was sentenced to life in prison following uprisings in Najaf, but was released two years later due to his immense popularity. Upon his release however, he was put under house arrest. In 1980, after writing in the defense of the Islamic Revolution, Sadr was once again imprisoned, tortured, and executed by the regime of Saddam Hussein. His sister, Amina Sadr bint al-Huda, was also imprisoned, tortured, and executed. It has been alleged that Sadr was killed by having an iron nail hammered into his head[12] and then being set on fire.
During the execution of Saddam Hussein, chants of "Long live Mohammed Baqir Sadr!" were heard being chanted by some of the Shi'a guards. CNN article